#telling me (in english) about a polish classic that she's read to graduate from a polish middle school

[depoteka]

today i had a dream about being back at school and being bullied wtf

[thewidowstanton]

Evelyn Carnate, burlesque artist, producer and director

Known as ‘The Shapeshifting Showgirl’, Evelyn Carnate is the current Miss Burlesque UK. With acts ranging from the playful to the powerful and unpredictable, the neo-burlesque performer has been on the scene for five years. She has a naughty sense of humour and can play everything from sweet and subversive to sensual and downright twisted.

Evelyn is also a director, producer and teacher and one of the founding members – along with Lilly Snatchdragon and ShayShay – of the all-Asian cabaret collective The Bitten Peach. All the proceeds of its show at the Underbelly Festival in 2019 went to Rose Thorne’s Cabaret vs Cancer charity. Evelyn now appears in CvC’s fundraising event Ashes to Ashes – a cabaret tribute to David Bowie – at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in London on 26 February 2020. She chats to Liz Arratoon.

The Widow Stanton: Where are you from? Evelyn Carnate: I’m now from London but I’m actually half Thai, half English. I grew up in Thailand in Chiang Mai. I went to an international school so that’s why I have this kind of American accent. [Laughs]

Are you from a showbusiness background? I was always obsessed with dancing; I did a lot of ballet and all kinds of dance. I did so much that my parents ended up sending me to a full-time ballet boarding school in England for a few years. It was Arts Educational School in Tring.

Had your family moved here by then? No, my dad is from Bristol but he moved to Asia over 30 years ago and never came back. My family have always been in Asia so I came back on my own.

Did you get straight into burlesque? Oh no, not at all. After dance school I went back to Thailand, then came back to London for art college. I trained as a theatre designer at Central Saint Martins in London. And then I did acting classes on the side and I went, ‘Oh, shit! I’m an actor!’. [Laughs]

So how did you move into burlesque? After graduating from art school, I then did drama school in New York – the William Esper Studio – right in Manhattan. So in my second year of studying I ended up living in a circus studio in Brooklyn – The Muse – and that’s where I fell in to cabaret. It was a training space; a big warehouse for training and they also did shows. Because I was at drama school six or seven days a week I couldn’t really do circus. I really wanted to do aerial but I had no time. I would help out at the shows and directed my little projects there when I had time. Then I saw burlesque and thought, ‘Yeah, I could do that, I could strip’.

Who did you see that inspired you? Oh, some of my flatmates did it. They would do these little showcases so I saw burlesque there and then I started going to the dive bar shows and cabaret clubs, such as The Slipper Room, Nurse Bettie, House of Yes, Duane Park and the Bowery Poetry Club. And all the underground, like alternative New York performance-art shows. And then someone recommended me to go see Jo Boobs at the New York School of Burlesque. She’s a really famous teacher. She runs the school and is a very incredible lady. So I did her beginner course and that was it. We did a showcase and it was just so exhilarating.

You must have real body confidence, which not everyone has… Yeah, I guess also from the dance training my body wasn’t… I didn’t really think about it. I was used to getting changed with other girls and guys and being backstage, you know, in skimpy leotards. I mean if I had to speak onstage without a script I would be very scared… doing stand-up comedy terrifies me more than being naked. [Laughs]

I love your name Thank you. I really love Lulu, the play, and I was reading it and there’s one part where he calls her ‘You little devil incarnate’. And I thought, ‘Ah, Evelyn Carnate! OK!’. 

How does it feel that you’ve won the UK title? I feel very surprised but in a good way. [Laughs] I haven’t really done competitions. They’re very popular in burlesque; it’s a good way for newcomers to get in. I once did another one when I was first starting out, which I won. It was the Alternative Cabaret Battle. I went with an existing act, but for the UK competition I had to prepare a lot; a lot of work went into it. Many people helped me with costumes and polishing the act. I’m happy that an alternative performer won. I’m quite proud of that because I did think they would go for a more classic traditional performer.

So tell us about your style; you call it neo-burlesque… I’ve never worn a corset in any acts yet! So my style… I really love characters, I love stories, so all my acts have quite different characters and even when I’m doing classic I need a clear image and story behind it. I am, in quotes, The Shape Shifting Showgirl, so I do go from really classic slow striptease to quite strange performance-art burlesque. And sometimes people don’t actually recognise that I’m the same performer. I’ve had that a lot: “Oh, you’re the one that did that act? You look so different.” I really enjoy that.

Do you design your own costumes? Yes, because I did theatre design I really love sketching costumes. I sketch all of them but I’m not super-skilled at making so I go to professional people. For this one (pictured with green fans), a lot of people helped me… there’s this amazing lingerie designer called Rosie Von Boschan. It’s the second time I’ve worked with her; her work really inspires me, I guess because it’s not the classic burlesque look. It feels more true to my style and taste. She made the lingerie for my traditional act for the competition and Bourgeoisie made my dress. We had to submit two categories of acts, one traditional and one, they call it ‘unique’. I did my subversive pink fan dance that goes a little bit wild for that. [Laughs]

Why did you set up The Bitten Peach? I co-founded it with two amazing performers, Lilly Snatchdragon, who is a trustee of Cabaret vs Cancer (pictured right below), and ShayShay (centre below). Lilly is a drag queen and burlesque performer and ShayShay is a drag performer. We all had our ideas before of doing an Asian show. I wanted to do an all-Asian burlesque show. I read some things about The Forbidden City in San Francisco, where they would do all these revue shows with Asian performers. That was very inspiring and I just thought, ‘Where are all the Asian burlesque performers? Like, let’s gather them up’.

I planned a little show with Lilly, which never actually happened! Before that, Lilly was working on Polly Rae’s show at the Hippodrome in London, and she had these ideas of doing a big Asian extravaganza with like, lion dancers and traditional things, and was going to get me involved as a producer. ShayShay had already done an Asian show, Lunar New Queer. Lilly and ShayShay met up and decided to do The Bitten Peach together and then they brought me on board.

So, we’re the three founders but we’ve also launched a mentoring programme for new Asian cabaret performers; we call them Peach Fuzzes. We help develop their acts and they debut at a Bitten Peach show. We’re making the programme a bit more official this year. I teach burlesque as well at The Cheek of It! School of Burlesque and Cabaret. And I recently opened my own studio in Hackney Wick, where we will be launching The Bitten Peach workshops for Asian newcomers. The info will be on our website.

Does The Bitten Peach have a regular venue? We’ve been everywhere; at all the kind of iconic LGBTQ venues like The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, The Glory… we move all around and we’ve done a variety of styles, like club nights and theatre shows, more classic cabaret; we do everything. What can you tell us about Ashes to Ashes? All the acts are set to David Bowie’s music; original Bowie tracks, no covers, featuring Bowie from every era. It’s hosted by Benjamin Louche, another Cabaret vs Cancer trustee…

Rose Thorne adds: What a night we have in store! This is the fifth annual Ashes to Ashes show at BGWMC and is very much our cabaret family showing love for Bowie and recognising the influence he’s had on so many of us. Among many others, we have amazing burlesque from Demi Noire, circus from the internationally renowned Andromeda, and, of course, the sound of Bowie from Keith Ramsay, seen recently at Southwark Playhouse. We have a Bowie raffle, badges and our exclusive officially licensed Bowie merchandise. We encourage our audience to dress up and sing loudly! Best of all, every penny raised will support Cabaret vs Cancer.

How is the burlesque scene doing in general? Evelyn: There’s a lot of crossover with burlesque and drag now, which really excites people. I mean drag is so popular now because of RuPaul’s Drag Race and also it’s a lot more diverse than it used to be, especially after The Cocoa Butter Club was founded by Sadie Sinner. She started a regular showcase for performers of colour and Lilly and I and ShayShay have done that. That existed a few years before Bitten Peach and that was definitely an inspiration and has completely changed the way cabaret is cast. It has become much more exciting and diverse.

Can you pick out a highlight from your career? Definitely the Underbelly show for Cabaret vs Cancer. It’s the biggest thing we ever did; there were 22 performers… there were group numbers… and we raised almost £4,000. Also because Lilly’s father passed away a few years ago from cancer and it was really important for her, it was so nice to do it for her as well.

Do you have any particular ambitions? Definitely more Bitten Peach. We’re really on a high right now. We didn’t even expect it to grow so fast, we just thought: “Oh, let’s just get together…” Sometimes I think people think we’re some big organisation but it’s just a few of us like, with our laptops in a coffee shop. But we’re making another full theatre show for March that ShayShay’s writing and directing, and we’d like to do more theatre and theatrical things that we could also possibly tour and get more audiences, especially Asian audiences in the UK and Europe.

Evelyn appears in Cabaret vs Cancer’s fundraising cabaret Ashes to Ashes at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in London on 26th February 2020.

Pictures: Corinne Cumming; Claire Seville; Juliet Shalam

For tickets to Ashes to Ashes click here

To donate to Cabaret vs Cancer click here

Evelyn on Facebook

The Bitten Peach’s website

Twitter: @Evelyn_Carnate @cabaretVScancer @bittenpeachuk

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

[limejuicer1862]

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

  Rachael Ikins

Rachael Ikins has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize & CNY Book Award multiple times and won the 2018 Independent Book Award for Just Two Girls. She featured at the Tyler Gallery 2016, Rivers End Bookstore 2017, ArtRage gallery 2018, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, Aaduna fundraiser 2017 Auburn, NY, Syracuse Poster Project 2015, and Palace Poetry, Syracuse. Her work is included in the 2019 anthologies Gone Dogs and We Will Not Be Silenced the latter Book Authority’s #2 pick for the top 100 Best New Poetry Books for 2019. She has 7 chapbooks, a full length poetry collection and a novel. She is a graduate of Syracuse University and Associate Editor of Clare Songbirds Publishing House. She lives in a small house with her animal family surrounded by nature and is never without a book in hand.

Associate Editor Clare Songbirds Publishing House, Auburn NY

https://www.claresongbirdspub.com/shop/featured-authors/rachael-ikins/

2018 Independent Book Award winner (poetry)

2013, 2018, 2019 CNY Book Award nominee

2016, 2018 Pushcart nominee

Www.writerraebeth.wordpress.com

https://m.facebook.com/RachaelIkinsPoetryandBooks/

@poetreeinmoshun on Instagram

@writerraebeth on Tumblr

@nestl493 on Twitter

Above all, practice kindness

The Interview

1. What inspired you to write poetry?

I started writing poetry in second grade when I was 7. I still know that silly poem by heart that I’d written for Halloween. And it was about cats. Some things never change, although I write about more than cats now. As far as inspiration I suppose it was hearing it—I speak several languages— poetry is its own language. My first grade teacher had us copy poems to learn penmanship from the chalk board. My father used to have me read psalms from the Bible at bed time as I learned to read more. I think I was just born a poet. Only one period of my life was I unable to write and that was caused by serious adverse reaction to medications. It was a bleak time.

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

I have already mentioned my dad and my first grade teacher. The most significant person was my 8th grade English teacher. A poet and author herself, she presented the unit on poetry ( met with groans esp. from the boys) by having us go out into the community to find poems in magazines and periodicals and cut them out. To create a notebook of poems. She had us each get a copy of two seminal poetry books, Poetry USA and Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle and we were assigned poems and practiced. We performed for a small crowd one afternoon in the school library. It made a huge difference to be taught by someone who was passionate about poetry. No English teacher for the rest of my school years ever came close. We are still friends. She is in her 80s now and still writing in multiple genres, attending workshops and publishing.

3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?

I’m not sure what this question refers to. Older in history poets or older people I knew who liked or wrote  poetry. My father was given, as were all soldiers, The Pocket Book of Poetry.  Soldiers would carry it under their helmets. My dad still had his copy, and we used to read from that little book. So I was aware of the masters as a kid, but had not known an actual adult poet until I was 14.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I tend to work in the mornings. I browse markets using social media a lot, too. If I find something interesting I will match up the pieces I want to submit and then revise and polish. As far as new work, again, it tends to be written mornings. I was riding my bike yesterday morning, and a poem started up in my head. This has always been a way I write. Other days something will happen, something that has been subconsciously simmering will say “It’s time!” Whatever else I had planned that day will take back seat to the need to write, and I may write for 5 hours straight.

Walking or riding and letting my mind roam. Once the body is craving relief, all extraneous clutter- thought goes away and clears space for something new to appear. I just listen for it.

5. What motivates you to write?

A feeling of not having achieved some mysterious rubicon yet. I have won a lot of prizes and as well published quite a lot of books with three publishers in multiple genres, and yet I  am just driven. I also have to say, I think I can’t help it. Writing is like breathing to me. “Write or die.” I would also like to make a significant amount of money at my craft/passion to make a dent in my monthly budget. Would I like to support myself at it? For sure, but I don’t know if that will ever happen. I have intense focus and ability to pursue something no matter who detracts from it. That has done well for me, too. Because in spite of teacher support, my family never took my writing seriously until the past decade.

6. What is your work ethic?

My work ethic has always been work hard and  help one another. We are all in this together. Contests aside, we are not competitors though some act that way. Help someone else. Don’t trample someone with your ambition. Pay it forward. Honesty. Write honestly.

7. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

Oh, that is an easy one. I first tried to read Tolkien to myself as an 8 year old. Was a tad daunting. Instead I read all of Milne’s Winnie the Pooh books. The classics. Read Tolkien again in my 20s and was hooked. Both these authors made a mark on me somehow, scarred my heart and brain because decades later after writing nothing but poetry since age 14, in my 40s I wrote a series of children’s stories and the initial chapters of what became the first book in the Tales from the Edge of the Woods series, Totems. My understanding of fantasy and my choice of magical characters and so on was sparked by those great authors. My children’s stories stayed in a box until about a year ago, through 7 moves. I showed them to a publisher last year and we worked on edits. A Piglet for David will be coming from Clare Songbirds Publishing House later this year, the first in a series of young reader chapter books.

8. Who of today’s writers do you admire and why?

I admire J. K. Rowling though I am not a Harry Potter fan. Like her, I have known horrible poverty. You just do the work, period. And if you become successful, you do good with it. I also have always admired poet Marge Piercy. Since her book The Moon is Always Female in the ‘80s with its erotic poems connected to the natural world and also cat poetry Marge has seemed to appear along the journey just when I  needed an example to follow. I have also been at work on straight fiction, a lesbian adventure/ romance for awhile. I have never been fond of reading explicit sexual descriptions. It bores me. Do it, don’t discuss it lol.

I had to write a love scene and had no idea how to do so. One thing about love scenes is it is easy for them to be unimaginative.

I was in a bookstore and found an anthology Best Lesbian Erotica, not sure of the year. Looking through the table of contents I saw Marge Piercy had a short story in it. So I bought it, read her story and the rest of them, then faced off one night, sweating, in front of my computer and wrote the scene. A few years later my story “The Horse Rescuer” was accepted for publication, and I was paid probably the most for one piece I’ve been so far.

In 2014 I noticed Marge on FaceBook so I private-messaged her, one of those “You don’t know me but…” expressions of gratitude for her presence in my literary life. She responded and suggested I submit to her June Poetry Intensive. She chooses 12 students for a week long workshop every year. I finally got to meet my hero.

I like Mary Oliver’s poetry, too, but Marge is the one who has always been there in some sort of magical way. There are really too many authors for me to list.

9. Why do you write as opposed to doing anything else?

I can’t not write. And when a poem in particular or a scene if we’re talking prose, starts coming together in my mind, I have to stop whatever else I’m doing. It’s like going into labor I guess. You can’t tell the baby you’ve changed your mind, stay in there.

10. What would you say to someone who asks “How do you become a writer.”

You write. The best way to become a writer is to read everything you can get your hands on. Then you write. Maybe you start out emulating a style of someone you like to read. Keep writing and eventually your own voice will be heard. Writing is the most labor-intensive, long-term gamble of a profession going. You can theoretically spend, for example, 5 years writing a novel, another several seeking an agent and publisher if you want to go the path of the big 5 publishers, and yet you can spend a whole decade of your life on that one project and it may never be accepted. Or sell. Know that up front. Study. Go to workshops. Find a writing group. Read at open mics. And if/ when you reach a point where you have something to submit, read the specs the publisher lists as to how to submit to their publication. It shows respect. Many a writer has been summarily rejected for not submitting the way the publisher requested. Be tough. Opinions are completely subjective. Being rejected by a publication is meaningless. Editors are human beings. We all have different tastes. Don’t take it to heart. If you are lucky enough to get a note of feedback along with the rejection, learn from that. Read books about writing.

It’s hard. Be aware. Being a writer is not for the faint of heart. If you are serious about it you will pursue it no matter what. We only pass this way one time. So if you really want to do this, do it.

11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

Right now I am in the midst of launching my mixed-genre memoir, Eating the Sun. It is the love story of my husband and me. Organized by seasons of the year, the garden is the vehicle that takes the reader on the journey. Each section starts with narrative and then has poetry related to it, and finally recipes created by us from garden ingredients we grew. I use my artwork often in my books when publishers allow it.

This book has pen and inks, photography and cover art by me. I have a second manuscript submitted to a publisher. It is all poetry titled Confessions of a Poetry Whore. Another poetry  manuscript  to be sent this fall is titled Riding in Cars with Dogs.  It will be the companion book to my previously published For Kate: a Love Story in Four Parts written after the death of my beloved cat, Katie.  Since grief is a universal experience and so is love, no matter what shape the beloveds, this book is accessible to anyone who has lost someone. The second fantasy book of the Tales of the Woodland series,  Beach Wrack has been written and edited professionally and is in the queue with a mid-level publisher. Book 3, Through the Hedgerow  is half written.

All four or five of the young reader chapter books are written as well. A Piglet for David will be Book 1. These also have my artwork as illustrations.  My work is contained in 5 upcoming anthologies, and I am eagerly awaiting copies. All releasing this summer and fall. Both writing and artwork.

Last but not least, I am at work on a thriller/horror genre novel. Haven.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Rachael Ikins Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.