Tell us about Doll. Doll is a raucous, romping, musical celebration of woman, mother and girlhood. It’s an irreverent, sometimes downright dirty and devilish, musically-driven comedic cabaret that aims to to unite women and men in the silliness of dolls, as well reveling in the nostalgic and telling ways we remember the toys of our youth.
How was Doll born? Our mama-doll Alicia, who is given to moments of inspiration often in the middle of the night, had a light-bulb moment in which Doll was born. She had just had her first daughter and was fascinated by the ins and outs of motherhood, the strangely gendered toys and how they were marketed; and how they spoke to what her experience growing up was like. It also seemed like a gold-mine for silly jokes and red hot tunes
How has being involved in cabaret shaped your life? Cabaret leads to a rich, but itinerant life. We get to sing everything form Garbage, to operatic arias, to Queen, to Guns’N’Roses. We have creative control and a lack of boundaries in our field that allows us to be fabulously free, but it certainly shapes an unpredictable path.
Where does Doll draw inspiration from? Doll draws inspiration from not just the general doll and toy industry, but the ideas around feminism today; the day-to-day reality of being a working mother, or a sexually explorative feminist, or an angry introverted academic. Three vastly different women and characters contributed to create a show that pokes fun at the boxes we’re all put in, and through bloody great music.
What a particularly magnificent scene in Doll you could share with us? A magnificent scene can be conveyed via a direction typed into the printed sheet music score of the show: Extended Doll Sex Pantomime. You’re welcome.
