I first became familiar with Brent Thorpe, Sydney’s leading expert on all things Brenda Trolloppe, back in 2013 with his solo show,Too Old For TV.
With its humour based in outlandish storytelling, it seems quite a remove from Thorpe’s latest venture at The Shift Bar. There, Brenda hosts the Bizarre Comedy Vaudeville Extravaganza every Thursday, and allows the extravagant entertainer the chance to fully spread her wings for the first time.
“I didn’t realise it until last year, but off and on, I’ve been doing Brenda for 21 years,” Thorpe says. “The very first time I ever took her out was in Ladies & Gentlemen, Brenda Trolloppe In Concert, in 1994. So I kind of know her really well. When she goes on, I wear her like a second skin. It’s funny – I’m pretty fearful with it, but it’s also very liberating for me because I just trust her. I trust her. When she goes on, there might be five things scribbled on a bit of paper so I have some objectives there, and she knows that certain things have been in the news, or that Kochie talked about this, Ita talked about that. She’ll mine a few things from the news, and the audience will give her some things as well. But for me, as a performer, it’s an exercise in trust.”
Given the format of each evening, having such a long relationship with a collaborator (even if this partner is your own alter ego) allows for a great level of freedom. With a troupe of other comedians invited to keep the audience laughing, having an MC so practised at juggling a crowd ensures a memorable night’s entertainment.
“Whenever I do solo work there’s a strong narrative line, whereas The Shift is pretty much a stand-up night, even though it’s in the character of Brenda Trolloppe,” Thorpe says. “Although she has a play of her own called Beauty! Glamour! Fame!, this is really the first time Brenda as a character has been let off the leash. There’s no script, she just gets up every Thursday night with three other comedians I’ve booked and curated. But this is the first time she’s been let loose, so any notion of narrative or order goes out the window. But somehow it still works, and I’m enjoying the freedom.”
At the sprightly age of 21, Brenda now seems to have finally found her niche as a performer. The shape and style of Thorpe’s feather boa-ed nom de guerre has been slowly coming together piece by piece, and now audiences can finally see her shine in person every Thursday on Oxford Street.
“She’s there, now. She stands her own ground. I think she’s got more songs than ever before. It’s not a drag act like you’d usually see at The Shift, where you think, ‘Geez, don’t they all look fantastic,’ and it’s more about female impersonation. Brenda has hairy legs and a hairy chest; it’s not that nice sort of drag. It has its base more in pantomime and burlesque.
“But she sings famous songs that she changes the words to, and though she’s not a great singer by any means, but she thinks she is. I’d never thought what shape [the show] was going to take, or how it was going to happen. But they asked me, I said sure, and then thought, ‘Shit, what am I going to do?’”
Thorpe laughs. “But I knew after the first week she needed to become a different thing. Though I’m loath to compare them, Brenda is a bit like my Dame Edna. We both have different voices now.”
Benda Trolope’sBizarre Comedy Vaudeville Extravaganza is on every Thursday atThe Shift Bar.
