Louise: The Last Dance theatre review – A fascinating tale
The unsung hero of Toulouse-Lautrec’s drawings is given centre stage
If you think you’ve never heard of can-can dancer Louise Weber, you’re probably right. But if you think you’ve never seen her, chances are you’re wrong. The series of posters artist Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to create for the Moulin Rouge in late 19th-century Paris remain ubiquitous today. Remember the woman with her leg in the air in ‘Moulin Rouge: La Goulue’ or wearing a plunge-neck dress in ‘La Goulue Arriving At The Moulin Rouge’? That’s Weber. Almost a century after her death, and with her name as buried as she is, Louise: The Last Dance is here to tell Weber’s fascinating tale. Blending archive footage, dance and first-person narrative, Canadian performance artist Saint Stella brings her subject back to life. From working in a laundry (and sneaking out at night in ‘borrowed’ dresses) to being the star attraction at the Moulin Rouge, Weber enjoyed a meteoric rise.
Known (affectionately by some, derisively by others) as La Goulue, or ‘the glutton’, due to her penchant for quaffing punters’ drinks as she danced around the room, Weber’s star shone brightly but briefly. Stella embodies all of this charismatically; each costume change or high kick takes us somewhere new, as Weber garners then loses both money and love, adored and exploited along the way.
The show takes its title from a day in 1928 when a documentary filmmaker visited Montmartre to capture the residents living in poverty there. Delighted to find an actual former star in their midst, the director filmed Weber dancing outside her ramshackle wooden caravan. Although glamour and fame had long since passed her by, the 62-year-old Weber smiles broadly for the camera, spinning as much as her ailing body will allow, back in her element. Screening this footage would have been a fitting way to end the show. But after it’s finished, Stella takes a valid step further, showing images of the many female entertainers who followed in Weber’s footsteps, changing the game but paying a heavy price for it.
Louise: The Last Dance, Greenside George Street, until 29 August, 4.20pm.