By PAUL MILLAR
CONTROVERSIAL with the guarantee of a belly-laugh, nude cabaret show Between the Cracks is set to come out of the blue at next month’s Lorne Arts Festival.
Yana Alana, a big woman by her own admission, opens her show wearing only a spray tan of blue and a wig that would take a boxfull of holding spray to keep in place.
But Alana, the creation of Australian Sarah Ward, told the Independent that anybody attending Between the Cracks for titillation should go elsehere.
The bold, award-winning show was more about having a laugh and exposing life’s pitfalls and drama, she explained.
“The first thing the audience sees is a blue woman singing about her mental health,” Alana said.
“It’s about a diva that has fallen between the cracks. The blue paint helps to expose her vulnerability as it tends to visibly expose those cracks and those cracks are what make each individual unique.
“It’s raw and it’s grounded and naked and it’s a real belly laugh.”
The show has been a sell-out across Australia, with Ward described as a world-class cabaret diva who takes the audience on a journey through poetry, dance and tantrums.
She won last year’s Helpmann Award after a series of other accolades since first stepping out as Yana Alana in 2006.
“We have some great songs and a lot of audience participation,” said Ward, stepping back into her Alana alter ego.
“I think people can really identify with the show, as most people struggle with their identity at some point in their life.”
Alana said preparing for the show was time-consuming and difficult, with covering her body in paint taking about an hour and a half and preventing her from sitting down until it was dry.
Then at the end of the show it all had to be peeled off until the next performance.
Alana and long-suffering accompanist Louise Goh will perform Between the Cracks during the fifth annual Lorne Arts Festtival, from 28 to 30 August.
Alana hoped locals would take up to 50 per cent of the seating at the festival, with many other patrons expected to travel down the coast to see the provocative artist.
