Rosa the Russian Beautician is getting bigger hair and blingier outfits in 2015. “This year she has a much more revamped look,” says her creator, Marney McQueen. “We have two new costumes for Rosa and two new wigs. We’re taking her hair to the next level.” The beautician to the stars includes the US President among her clientele: he gets the Barack Sack and Crack special. McQueen has taken Rosa (or is it the other way round?) on quite the journey since ‘discovering’ her in her final year of NIDA. “The character came from a third year project,” explains McQueen. “We had to create a performance from observing somebody. A lot of people chose bus drivers, shop keepers, people like that, and I chose my beautician. She wore leopard print, had huge hair, a big accent – going to her for all these treatments sent me broke! I kept having to find new treatments I needed to get done in order to see her.”
Does the original know about what she spawned? “She’s still operating. I would love to make contact one day. Hope she’s not offended. I hope she takes it as great credit.” That original Rosa could be considered to owe McQueen one after a waxing incident, or rather, a non-incident. “She told me to come in for a free leg wax,” recalls McQueen. “I went along, something for free, and she had these people there and they were students she was training to do Brazilians! It was like ‘Right, get your gear off.’ This was 12 years ago. I was out of there!”
Rosa having a stable of celebrity clients makes for not only a good stage character but allows McQueen to keep the show up to date. “I align her with all current activities, she hears about scandalous incidents, about politics, that sort of thing.” McQueen didn’t gravitate towards comedy when she was training as an actor. “Not at all – in fact at NIDA I was cast in very few comedic roles; I thought I’d be a serious actress. Rosa got quite a few laughs in our grad performance and I started getting cast in comedic roles. I got cast in Priscilla the Musical which was the ‘straightest role’ I had for two years.”
McQueen’s experiences with Priscilla grew another MICF show, Rump Steak at a Vegan BBQ, about being a single gal surrounded by gays. “I wanted to get back to Rosa and cabaret style performance,” recalls McQueen. “It’s great to have a performance show that’s yours – between big musicals there’s something you’ve got control over. I’ve got about eight characters I play. It’s magical creating a character from observing people. I’ve been touring in comedy cabaret shows, all round Australia, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to London, New York. I have a little man in my life now so I can be home with him, be a mum and a performer. I don’t have to go back to work full-time, I can accept gigs here and there. In this new show I go back to Rosa’s past and explore the incident that made her leave her family and come to Australia. It reveals the story of how she left home intending to be an independent woman, at the age of seven. Her sister did her wrong. Rosa was married once, in Leningrad, to a lovely hairdresser. But that broke down after 12 months.” Rosa has been known to pair up single audience members during a show. “She’s still a single woman and still on the lookout,” McQueen adds. “But she lives for her clients. She refers to herself as ‘the people’s beautician’”.
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
