Isabel Hertaeg performance and creation news

8 shows left!

2011-04-11T20:56:00.000-07:00

Fabulous review from Theatre Alive:

The Etiquette Hour with Lady Cordelia Winterbottom

A rainy Saturday night did not deter the small, intimate crowd from learning some invaluable lessons in 'modern' etiquette from Lady Cordelia Winterbottom’s Etiquette Hour.

The most prim and proper yet utterly likeable Ms Winterbottom regaled her class of ‘caterpillars’ how to become lady-like society butterflies. This included such insights as how clean one’s teeth (tar and wood?), to a considerate philosophy of adultery, with reference to such text-books such as Cakes Men Like, and Cosmopolitan’s New Guide to Etiquette

Such lessons were interspersed with further educational songs complimented by Ms Winterbottom’s impressive operatic voice. Whilst these antiquated lessons in etiquette were indeed laughable and this show was wonderfully entertaining, comedy festival fans note that this is more of theatrical cabaret show, not stand-up comedy. Nonetheless there are plenty of giggles, fun and a few surprises in store for you caterpillars...

"Loved the 'groovy' rap!"

"Great fun, plenty of laughs"

"She's fantastic, a new Dame Edna in our midst"

The Etiquette Hour with Lady Cordelia

Bulmers People's Choice Award | Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2011

2011-03-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

Bulmers People's Choice Award | Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2011

Vote for The Etiquette Hour with Lady Cordelia Winterbottom!

The Etiquette Episode of 3CR's Girls Radio Offensive

2011-03-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

An hour of interview, etiquette tips and songs from the upcomming show, The Etiquette Hour With Lady Cordelia Winterbottom.

Listen Here: http://soundcloud.com/isabel-hertaeg/gro270311isabel/s-xLhO5

Thank You Helen Razer for the lovely writeup.

2011-03-26T01:45:00.000-07:00

The Et
iquette Hour
With
Lady
Cordelia Winterbottom.

When: 30 Mar-1 Apr 6.45pm; 6-9 Apr 8pm; 13-16 Apr 9.15pm; 20-23 Apr 6.45pm Where: The Dog Theatre at Footscray Community Arts Centre Tickets: $17-$25. Bookings through The Dog Theatre, www.thedogtheatre.com or at the door.

In a world drained of empathy and correctly placed pinkies, the Lady Cordelia is here to assist.

We've not actually visited Her Grace's School for Wayward Girls as yet. But, here at Citysearch, we approve of any lady who wears a strong foundation garment and preaches the value of afternoon tea.

In recent years, the hunger for gentility and vintage niceties has grown. It's surprising, then, that so few performers have reaped this crop so ripe for comedy. It is our great hope, as avid readers of Mrs Emily Post, that the Lady Cordelia will feed our need for good deeds.

For fans of antiquity and drag, or "performativity" as the posh people would have it, this evening of nicely-attired instruction is probably a must.

Helen Razer, Citysearch

MICF Here We Come!

2011-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

Adelaide Fringe is under the belt.

We had 3 intimate and very fun shows with great audience response. Doing a couple of shows away from home is a great way to test a whole new show. Most sections of the show had been audience tested separately as short slots at various comedy nights, but putting it all together is important too. The upshot of this was that one number got axed (its amazing how you can spend 3 full days rolling around your apartment, crying with laughter over a new joke and then watch it bomb on stage) if the show wasn't a bit over time the number would have been rewritten but as it is, my titanic joke sank. The second act also got rearranged somewhat. However, the Melbourne season will be sans interval so a little more tweaking will be needed in the next couple of weeks.

I also had the opportunity while in Adelaide to visit an amazing voice teacher and make some baby steps back in the direction of singing opera. I'm very excited about this!

So, the Melbourne comedy festival season of The Etiquette Hour With Lady Cordelia Winterbottom opens in just a few weeks. Tickets are already on sale so get yours at www.TheDogTheatre.com

Lady Cordelia is on the move!

2010-12-06T23:30:00.001-08:00

Hi Folks,

A quick update to let you know that 'The Etiquette Hour With Lady Cordelia Winterbottom' is set to premiere at Adelaide Fringe in Feb and will then be getting down to business at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April.

So get ready to put your best behaviour on Caterpillars!

More info to come. Check the gig guide on LadiesWhoLounge.com.au for updates.

http://badfeministuk.wordpress.com/

2010-09-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

http://badfeministuk.wordpress.com/

A Blog entry on ethical porn I think is important.

The Trouble With Porn

9SEP

As a woman who has had no small involvement in the adult industry – from writing scripts and editing magazines to appearing as a (clothed) extra in one porn film and directing another* – it’s safe to say I’m no prude. I’m an advocate of the Spanner Trust. I have various female (and feminist) porn director friends. I’ve seen guys casually tugging themselves to maintain an erection in between scenes on an adult film, handed more than a few bottles of lube and baby wipes around set (ever wondered why you never see a porn star with grubby feet even though they spend their time in between takes walking around barefoot? Of course you haven’t – but it’s down to the magic of baby wipes) and once encountered Pete ‘le Meat’ on set and can bear witness to the fact that said meat really is ten inches long and about as thick as a coke can. I’ve helped create sex websites and magazines and have long argued that you can be a feminist who is also pro-porn – as long as the porn is produced in a respectful, safe, sane and consensual way, and no one is taking part out of duress, whether physical, emotional or financial.

And yet… And yet…

I’m beginning to find myself softening to anti-porn arguments. Not (just) because I’m getting older, but because of the seeming increase in violent porn.

OK, so research on the causal links between porn consumption and sexual behaviour is shaky, at best. It seems very much ‘six of one and half a dozen of the other’ when it comes down to establishing whether porn viewing and violence towards women are actually linked: one research report’s ‘porn damages women‘ is another research report’s ‘viewing porn decreases rape‘.

However, there does seem to be a growing trend for porn films to project:

- Woman as slut to be aggressively degraded and insulted rather than hot woman to get fucked. OK, hardcore feminists may argue the two things amount to the same end result politically but getting fucked is fun. Getting aggressively degraded isn’t (unless you’re entering into the sub/Dom arena but that’s a whole other thing, and I’m talking about degradation in ‘vanilla’ rather than kinky porn.)
- Anal sex as standard – and lube as unnecessary.
- Woman as owner of holes to be stretched as widely as possible by as many people as feel the urge regardless of whether she looks in pain.
- Woman having head shoved into toilet/being forced to gag as part of sex/being generally hurt.

These are not nice things. And that’s where it all starts to get tricky, even as a bad feminist.

I believe in freedom of speech. I believe that masturbation is a wonderful way to spend the time. But I’m also hearing about many women (including teenage girls) who are either being asked to do things they don’t want to do by their partners, as a result of said partner’s porn viewing habits. And many women also seem to be putting pressure on themselves to fuck ‘like a porn star’ and thus doing things that they don’t really enjoy (should you be a women who wants her head flushed down the toilet while being DPd, that’s entirely your choice, of course, and enjoy it to your subby heart’s content. But if you’re feeling pressure to have group sex/gagging blow jobs/anal sex when you don’t want to, remember – real sexual confidence is as much about saying no as saying yes).

Like it or not, many people get their sex education from porn and at the moment, a lot of porn seems to be presenting a particularly unpleasant vision of what sex is all about.

So what can be done? Banning porn is clearly a ridiculous idea on numerous levels (what do you do? Pull the plug on the whole of the internet?) Setting guidelines and codes of conduct is all very well but how do you police that internationally (again, assuming that you’d even want to).

The only potential glint I could see is if we all vote with our money: stop buying any adult material from producers who make negative woman-hating imagery – even if the specific film we’re purchasing isn’t one that does (an extract fromAVN’s review of one of these films: “Kelly gets dick-slapped and cock-choked by a group of very hungry men. She enjoys a couple of seconds of a lubeless ass-fucking. All this fun lasts for a few minutes, and is then continued behind doors closed to everything but Siffredis camera.”) Start supporting consensual, ethically produced porn to help increase the funding that nice pervertery purveyors have, in the hope that they’ll be able to grow larger and provide a well-marketed alternative to the ‘she ain’t fucked unless she’s been fucked up’ brigade.

And if you happen to be of an exhibitionist persuasion, how about getting some real sex onto the likes of pornotube? Sex with kissing and hugging; eye contact and foreplay; laughing and lube application (and obviously some damn good fucking – in whatever form that takes for you – too). Because the real stuff is actually rather lovely. And that’s what we rarely get to see.

*albeit a short film, as a co-production with other journalists, which was utterly diabolial

The Bath For Breast Cancer

2010-08-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

Some Images from today's photoshoot. Expecting them to hit tomorrow's UK papers.

Australian Cabaret Artist Isabel Hertaeg is…

Taking A Bath on top of Calton Hill

For Breast Cancer

Austral ian Cabaret Artist Isabel Hertaeg will be making a splash by taking a bath atop Calton Hill in Edinburgh on Wed August 18 to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research and to promote her show, La Petite Mort – The Orgasm.

“There is research indicating that women (and men) who have regular orgasms throughout their lives drastically reduce their risk of breast cancer” says Isabel Hertaeg. “So I thought I’d do something a little more productive than wearing a pink ribbon!” So on August 4 Isabel will plunge herself into a bathtub filled with vibrating rubber ducks atop Carlton Hill in

Edinburgh. The Ducks (well, others like them) will also be available for sale at Isabel’s Edinburgh Fringe cabaret show,La Petite Mort – The Orgasm with 50% of all profits going to breast cancer research. Isabel’s show, La Petite Mort is a comical cabaret rompthrough the scientific and medical history of sex andsexuality. Hailed as “Musical genius” - Arts Hub (Australia), La Petite Mort - The Orgasm culminates in one of the most educational, and arousing, evenings one could spend.

"This is a truly original, delightful, accomplished show. Hertaeg shimmies, flirts and croons and holds her audience in a firm but gentle embrace. This is another of the shows that remind you why you love the Fringe so much." Kate Copstick – The Scotsman 2009

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Venue: Belly Dancer. Underbelly, Cowgate (venue 61)
Dates: 5 - 30th August 2010
Times: 17:00 (18:00)
Box Office: 0844 545 8252 -
www.underbelly.co.uk

Edfringe review

2010-08-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

La Petite Mort - The Orgasm, reviewed in ScotsGay this week.

"Out of this world... funny, sexy, with a velvety demeanor I want to wrap myself up in. Hertaeg is amazing, as she projects a voice better than any I’ve heard this festival. She shimmies around like a ginger Marilyn Monroe, although at times comes off more Shirley Temple. I loved it." ScotsGay 2010.

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/la-petite-mort-the-orgasm

2010-06-27T19:37:00.001-07:00

came very close to being busted vacuuming in the nude and in rollers this morning.

2010-06-08T20:12:00.001-07:00

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
- Thomas A. Edison

2010-05-04T20:04:00.001-07:00

Tickets to The Butterfly Club season of La Petite Mort - The Orgasm are now on sale. June 10-13, 9pm.

http://bit.ly/bO6LiN

2010-03-31T21:42:00.001-07:00

http://ping.fm/zGDs3

Sponsor The Ladies Who Lounge Cabaret UK Tour

2010-03-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

Ladies Who Lounge are seeking sponsors to help us get to Edinburgh.

After our acclaimed 2009 season at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Ladies Who Lounge Cabaret are once again heading to the UK. We need your support. Please consider the sponsorship package below.

Bronze Sponsors ($100 AUD or more) will receive a weblink on the Sponsors and Links pages of the Ladies Who Lounge website.

Silver Sponsors ($250 AUD or more) will receive a 1/8 page advertisement in the cabaret season program of their choice (Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and UK are all coming up this year) and a weblink on the Sponsors and Links pages of the Ladies Who Lounge website.

Gold Sponsors ($500 AUD or more) will receive a 1/4 page advertisement in the cabaret season program of their choice (Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and UK are all coming up this year) and a weblink on the Sponsors and Links pages of the Ladies Who Lounge website.

Platinum Sponsors ($750 AUD or more) will receive a 1/2 page advertisement in the cabaret season program of their choice (Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and UK are all coming up this year) and a weblink on the Sponsors and Links pages of the Ladies Who Lounge website.

Diamond Sponsors ($1000 AUD or more) will receive a full page advertisement in the cabaret season program of their choice (Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and UK are all coming up this year) and a weblink on the Sponsors and Links pages of the Ladies Who Lounge website and VIP tickets to the cabaret show of their choice including VIP seats and a bottle of French Champagne.

Please note: Sponsors may remain anonymous if desired.

Donation Instructions: To make your donation decide which level of sponsorship you wish to offer Then make your donation using the Paypal button below. If you wish to be a named sponsor and advertise with us or if you wish to make a VIP show boooking or both then please email isabelhertaeg@gmail.com to organise weblinks, program advertisement design, etc.

We thank you for your generous support.

2010-03-31T21:34:00.001-07:00

Sponsor the Ladies Who Lounge. Donate to out Edinburgh fund here: http://ping.fm/z6A2v

#fringecover

2010-03-31T18:51:00.001-07:00

Week two of La Petite Mort begins tonight. 9.30pm at The Dog Theatre, 42a Albert St, Footscray. www.trybooking.com.au/cuj

#MICF cabaret

2010-03-24T15:22:00.001-07:00

La Petite Mort opens in Melbourne Tonight!

9.30pm at The Dog Theatre, 42a Albert St, Footscray.

Be There or Be Square.

#MICF

2010-03-17T22:17:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks,

La Petite Mort Opens NEXT THURSDAY 25th in Melbourne's Dog Theatre for Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

In Adelaide Magazine we were listed as "Adelaide Fringe Top 3 Shows"

Bookings: www.trybooking.com.au/CUJ and vote for us in the people's choice award here: www.bulmerspeopleschoice.com.au

Is x

Latest Review From The Independent Weekly

2010-02-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

Fringe Festival: La Petite Mort – The Orgasm
TERI LOUISE KELLY
26 Feb, 2010 11:40 AM
In the 1700s, women used to be masturbated by doctors as a cure for hysteria – and the doctors found it tedious work. Just one of the interesting facts I learned spending an hour in the company of Isabel Hertaeg.
In the veritable orgasm of shows about the female orgasm, Hertaeg's cabaret La Petite Mort covers Freudian slips (no pun intended), Bavarian chamber music and even a spot of home-on-the-range lesbian lamenting.

Hertaeg has a stupendous voice, one suited to an infinite variety of styles – as she ably demonstrated, accompanied by an equally talented pianist. The lady in red has no fear of real or pseudo echoes as she galavants vocally through the lexicon which is the female orgasm.

Laying somewhere between The Vagina Monologues and an evening of parlour games with Virginia Woolfe and Vita Sackville-West, La Petite Mort isn't so much a small grunt on the orgasmic scale, but rather a primal scream delivered in key.

Isabel Hertaeg's cabaret is one to ponder, stuffed full of facts, foreplay and tissues, it is an after-dinner appointment at the psychologists.

– The Promethean, until March 12.

2010-02-27T23:18:00.001-08:00

Latest review from The Independent Weekly: "La Petite Mort isn't so much a small grunt on the orgasmic scale, but rather a primal scream delivered in key."

http://ping.fm/YxUhk

2010-02-25T22:31:00.001-08:00

Kicking Goals! La Petite Mort was listed as Top 3 Shows of the Adelaide Fringe!

2010-02-21T22:41:00.001-08:00

Adelaide Fringe Interview is up on CabaretConfessional.com

http://ping.fm/YiRRh

The First review for Adelaide Fringe is out on CabaretConfessional.com

2010-02-21T00:23:00.000-08:00

Sex And Songs. What More Could You Ask For?

Sunday, February 21, 2010 At 12:40PM

Reviewed by Matthew Carey

As I sat in the balcony at The Promethean awaiting the start of La Petite Mort I was intrigued by the sheer red dress draped over the grand piano and high heeled shoes waiting on the piano stool.

Isabel Hertaeg’s first song which talked of Carnival Time being time for sex with the devil confirmed that a great deal of this show was going to be about sex and sexuality. The fact that in the first five minutes of the show Isabel put clothes on instead of taking them off suggested to me that what she planned to fuck with tonight was my mind.

Unlike Tiger Woods, Isabel makes no apologies for who she is. As she says, she’s a woman who started exploring the theories behind female sexuality because she had many questions. Her show stimulates your thinking but is not merely shallow titillation.

Her legit vocal training is evident in a Strauss art song but she can cross genres with ease, sliding straight into a vocal bump and grind in the next song about Temptation.

Pianist Geoff Urquhart provides superb accompaniment and adds a wry counterpoint to Hertaeg’s open, honest delivery. His touch is exquiste and he supports the melody beautifully.

Isabel shares fun facts about sex. For example did you know that a contraception method encouraged by doctors in 6th Century Europe was to place a slice of cat’s liver in an ivory tube and tie it around one’s left ankle? Good thing we’ve moved on from there.

The highlight of the show for me was Hertaeg’s interpretation of the song “Colour and Light” from the Sondheim show Sunday in the Park with George. Re-imagining the opening of the song as the pathway to and description of an orgasm was literally breathtaking and the number was a vocal tour de force.

The show’s end came a little suddenly for me. I felt as though I needed a little more notice that we were hearing Isabel’s final song so that we could give her the audience response she deserved. I think we would have definitely brought her back for an encore had we realised the show was finished!

With a eclectic mix of songs (covering classical, RnB and country music styles among others) and plenty of food for thought, La Petite Mort is an entertaining late night show for audiences who like something to think about as well as something to look at.

LA PETITE MORT - THE ORGASM

Venue: The Promethean

25 Feb, 4, 10-11 March @ 9.30pm, 19 Feb, 12 March at 10.00pm

5 March @ 10.30pm

Adult $20/Concession $15

Book at FringeTIX (1300-FRINGE) or click here.

2010-02-21T00:22:00.001-08:00

The first review for Adelaide Fringe is out!

check it out here:

http://ping.fm/wIxef

Adelaide Fringe

2010-02-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

Well we opened on Friday at The Promethean for Adelaide Fringe to a full house.

The Advertiser came so we're expecting the review any day now.

For the next week I'll be at APAM selling my wares and trying to flog a tour and then our next show is on Thursday 25th and is almost sold out as well, with more press and a host of APAM delegates in attendance.

There will also be a writeup on Cabaret Confessionals soon.

In other news, Lady C TV Episode 1 will go online any day now and her website is almost ready to launch too.

2010-02-09T04:46:00.001-08:00

Looking forward to performing at the gorgeous Promethean in Adelaide! http://ping.fm/d6HIJ

2010-02-06T18:23:00.001-08:00

www.LadiesWhoLounge.com.au

What's On:

2010-01-16T01:48:00.000-08:00

Adelaide Fringe

La Petite Mort - The Orgasm is Performing at Adelaide Fringe.

Venue: The Promethean - 116 Grote St, Adelaide.

Dates: Feb 19, 25, Mar 4, 5, 10, 11, 12

Bookings: Here

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

La Petite Mort - The Orgasm is Performing at Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Venue: The Dog Theate - 42a Albert St, Footscray.

Dates: Mar 25, 26, 27, Apr 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10

Bookings: HERE

Tweeting

2009-10-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

after spending a couple of hours making my website searchable on Google, etc I decided it was time I joined Twitter.

So here it is: http://twitter.com/LadiesWhoLounge

and don't forget www.ladieswholounge.com.au is coming to a search engine near you!

New Marilyn Shots

2009-10-27T06:22:00.001-07:00

Just had my shots finished for my Marilyn Monroe act. Roving, MC, Musical act.

La Petite Mort on Youtube.

2009-09-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

An excerpt of La Petite Mort is now on Youtube!

The video is taken from The Skirt Network Melbourne Fringe event, 'Skirting Around' performed last Friday in The Lithuanian Club Main Hall. The event also featured Claire Hooper (GNW), Felicity Ward (Spicks and Specks) and Celia Paquola, (MICF Award Winner).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPBIxeeNNZ8

Quick reminder that the show contains adult themes. :-)

Freshly Pimped MySpace

2009-09-16T20:38:00.001-07:00

http://www.myspace.com/lapetitemorttheorgasm

links and more links

2009-09-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN_A97wpi2M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK_c3Wq5bOg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pKw8vbV1mM

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Isabel-Hertaegs-La-Petite-Mort/144105058408?ref=mf

http://www.myspace.com/lapetitemorttheorgasm

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lady-Cordelia-Winterbottom/157155050751?ref=mf

Scotsman Review

2009-08-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Fantastic review in The Scotsman for our Edinburgh Fringe Season:

Theatre review: La Petite Mort: The Orgas

m

Published Date: 10 August 2009

By KATE COPSTICK

FREE

***

LAUGHING HORSE @ THE COUNTING HOUSE (VENUE 170)

"ARE you here for orgasms?" enquired the girl ahead of me in the queue loudly. Well, had I been, I would have been disappointed. But I wasn't disappointed: this tiny show, played in full overhead light against a background of The Pear Tree garden lager-lovers on one side, and stand-ups telling dirty stories in Shaggers in another part of The Counting House on the other, was absolutely charming.

A mixture of songs, from the silly and the saucy through Sondheim to Strauss, is interwoven with fascinating facts about sex and orgasms throughout the ages. This is a truly original, delightful, accomplished show.

Isabel Hertaeg is a talented, charismatic lady with an impressive vocal range, and La Petite Mort… is proper cabaret – suave bloke at the keyboard plus glamorous chanteuse onstage.

Hertaeg shimmies, flirts and croons and holds her audience in a firm but gentle embrace. This is another of the shows that remind you why you love the Fringe so much.

• Until 13 August. Today 12:15am.

Page 1 of 1

Last Updated: 09 August 2009 7:40 PM
Source: The Scotsman
Location: Edinburgh
Related Topics: Theatre reviews , Edinburgh Festival Fringe , Festivals 2009