Chrissie Shaw

Bijou-A Cabaret of Secrets and Seduction is a ‘sumptuous’ cabaret/theatre show that peeps into the private, sensual world of Madame Bijou, a Paris identity in the 1930s. Set in a Paris bar in 1933, Bijou unravels her story in narration, song and dance, backwards in time to the late 1870s. Chrissie Shaw plays Bijou, and pianist Alan Hicks plays the music, sings and even recites Symbolist poetry when called upon! This has been his theatrical debut as Alan is a wonderful classical pianist and accompanist, now in the role of Alain the bar pianist!

The show has had successful seasons in Canberra and Melbourne and toured regionally to 14 towns in NSW with help from amazing Pozible supporters. A highlight has been a performance in the Famous Spiegeltent during its Canberra Season in March this year. Chrissie/Bijou channelled Marlene Dietrich (who sang in the same Spiegeltent!!) in her rendition of ‘Falling in Love Again’. We have just had a short season at the La Mama Court House Theatre in Melbourne (June 15 to 19) and there'll be a one-off performance in Cooma on July 16th (Cooma Little Theatre). Bijou has certainly travelled about!

We have a season booked in Sydney in August. There are a lot of expenses involved, and we are not funded: rent, publicity, artists’ fees, promotional material (Posters, flyers) AND we would like to do one performance with an AUSLAN interpreter, for people with hearing loss. This comes at a considerable cost but we feel it would be a great way to include people who otherwise might not get a great deal from a theatrical and musical performance.

Over two weeks we do nine performances. There is no guarantee that Box Office will cover all expenses, even though we have great faith in our wonderful Publicist! Chrissie (moi) will have to underwrite the season…BUT with your help we can ensure success and can make sure we can afford to engage the AUSLAN interpreter!

Pozible supporters will help us to pay for the Publicist and the AUSLAN interpreter. 

Here is a ball-park type budget (budgie??)

EXPENSES:

Publicist: $2000

AUSLAN Interpreter: $2000 or more.

The Depot Theatre Rental: $3000

Marketing material: $1000

Artists' Fees: $4000

LX operator/Stage Manager Fee: $2000

Travel: $200

TOTAL: $14,200

INCOME:

Projected Box Office Income: $10,000

Producer contribution: $200

Pozible support: $4000

TOTAL: $14,200

The main challenge for us is actually taking on a season in a major city, when we have no funding, and no guarantee that Box Office will cover costs. The theatre company hosting our show is charging $3000 rent for the two weeks. This is reasonable, compared with larger organisations, but a lot for us to cover. However we are delighted that The Depot Theatre invited us to be part of their 2016 Season, and we are very happy to be able to do BIJOU in Sydney…a hard nut to crack for a small Independent company. To ensure that we get audience, we need to engage an experienced Publicist, coming at a cost of  $2000. The added extra of engaging an AUSLAN Interpreter might seem like a luxury, but for a deaf person this is a necessity and we want to invite people with hearing loss to experience our show…to be inclusive. Chrissie herself has mild hearing loss, and so can easily relate to the experience of people with greater hearing loss. SO our challenge is to share our show!!!!!