Returning to the Melbourne stage for a limited season, Lady Diamond is back! Simon Morrison-Baldwin’s 7-foot chanteuse graces The Butterfly Club with her latest tale, corps(e); melding drag, spoken word and song, in an exploration of gender, secrets, poisonings and plots.
Considered one of the most important transvestites in history, the mystery of d’Eon de Beaumont’s sex began when, as a royal spy in the 1700s for King Louis XV, he successfully dressed as a woman in order to infiltrate the court of Czarina Elizabeth of Russia.
Was he a man, or was she a woman? That was the question that sparked a betting pool on the London Stock Exchange. Amounts became quite large, such that plots were begun in order to capture d’Eon bodily, and de-termine the matter once and for all…
Dressed as a man he was none the less a woman; Dressed as a woman she was none the less a man. – Edna Nixon: Royal Spy
Simon Morrison-Baldwin is a VCA graduate most recently seen during the Melbourne International Comedy Fest as the Narrator of the live superhero radio play Bullet.
He continues to carve out a niche as a drag performer, from an impressively bustled Lady Bracknell (Rough & Tumble – Adelaide Fringe), to Berkoff’s downtrodden Mum (East – Seymour Centre) to a 7? Mother of three fighting the H factor (The Joy Before Thinking – Theatreworks).
Particularly unforgettable was his recent portrayal of the sadistic lesbian prison Matron of Cellblock Booty (Sixxters Grimm).
corps(e)
The Butterfly Club – Carson Place (off Little Collins St), Melbourne
Season: 1 – 6 October 2013
Bookings: 03 9660 9600 or online at www.melbournefringe.com.au
For more information, visit: www.ladydiamond.com.au for details.
Image: Lady Diamond with Simon Morrison-Baldwin
