The (Naked) Boys Are Back In Town

The all-male revue Boylexe returns to the Shadow Lounge this summer.

Are you starting to feel the thaw of England’s winter as your skin cracks and melts in the watery sunshine and the shops begin to swell with flip-flops and “Back To School” signs? It seems as though British Summer Time is in full swing and it would only be right to, as Nelly so eloquently put it back in 2002, “take off of your clothes”, now that it’s hot in, as it were, “here”.

If the thought of disrobing in the weak rays of the English sunshine to reveal milky-blue skin that may blister at the first sniff of a UV ray terrifies you then fear not, the ever-generous cabaret community will grab the oars and navigate those choppy waters for you!

This summer sees the return of the truly marvellous Boylexe in the revamped Shadow Lounge. Producer Howard Wilmot told us that “the great new angle for us is that we’re in a completely refurbished, state of the art venue now with the Shadow Lounge having been completely made-over, which is going to be great for us from a production perspective. We ran a series of sell-out shows last year and we’ll be back with favourites and new additions to the show with special guests lined up and have support from local businesses like Balans.” And, as anyone who has ever spent more than thirty seconds with a burlesque performer knows, Balans is the holy grail of Soho cocktails. Say no more, we’re sold. You can find out more at the official Boylexe website.

At the Edinburgh Fringe burlesque showcase Dixey will be bringing over some of the biggest names from the US scene including “the original king of boylesque” Tigger! as well as Burlesque Hall of Fame favourites Russel Bruner and the Stage Door Johnnies. The gentlemen will remain “immaculately underdressed” and we shall remain, no doubt, immaculately enamoured.

Happening this week,  the first Vienna Boylesque Festival has attracted plenty of London-based performers, such as Rubyyy Jones, Aurora Galore, Dave the Bear,  and, rather brilliantly, Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst. The whole thing looks glam and gorgeous and will hopefully begin an annual festival that will grow and grow.

This year’s New York Boylesque Festival wasn’t without its porn-fuelled controversy and now would be a great time to start chucking a few pennies away for next years’ showdown.

Lastly, the launch night of Circus of Men takes place on 3rd July 2014 at the Hippodrome Theatre in Leicester Square. It promises to be “London’s most erotic, sensual, sexual all-male stage show”, so we fully look forward to that night out.

So that’s your summer of boylesque sorted. Crack open the Factor 50, panic-buy boxes of Fab lollies and get ready to get stuck into a season of hot men, hot venues and even hotter performances.