Like most artists, there have been many occasions when Eve Gordon has wondered where the next pay cheque is coming from and whether it will be enough to pay the bills. It comes down to the age-old dilemma: do you do something you love or for the money? This is the territory circus theatre company The Dust Palace, which Gordon founded four years ago with Mike Edward, explores in its latest show Love and Money.
"It's devised from Mike's personal experience as a male stripper when he needed to make ends meet because he had a two-year-old daughter and was trying to put himself through drama school," she says. "It incorporates a number of real life stories based on interviews with friends and associates who have worked as strippers. It's a fascinating world full of cliches and the assumptions the rest of us have about people who take their clothes off for a living."
Known for burlesque-orientated works such as Burlesque As You Like It, Venus Is ... and Circus Non Sequitur, this production takes The Dust Palace in a different direction. While it's still highly physical, incorporating aerial and acrobatic work, it is more story-driven and has involved bringing in Leighton Cardno and Jaimee Edward as writing partners.
Gordon, who has combined running The Dust Palace with her role as Stacey on TV3's The Almighty Johnsons, says Love and Money moves the company toward more traditional theatre production though they're describing it as a cirque/theatre play. She agrees there will be inevitable comparisons to the film Magic Mike about male strippers. "We were totally surprised when the film came out because we'd been working on our show since probably the beginning of last year - so it's nearly two years and it comes very much from Mike's own life. We made a conscious decision not to see the film because we didn't want to be influenced by it."
Love and Money concludes a busy year. Having built up a loyal following, the company is getting an increasing number of corporate bookings along with invitations to national arts festivals. This year alone, it's been seen at Splore, Erupt Lake Taupo, the Right Royal Cabaret Festival in Taranaki, the Fuel Festival and at Auckland's Q. Gordon also worked with NBR Opera New Zealand as circus co-ordinator and performer on The Bartered Bride, which meant perfecting new skills such as acrobatics atop stacked chairs.
