Sugartits: sweet guerrilla cabaret

Jun 05, 2013

Subversive “guerrilla cabaret” duo Bourgeois & Maurice will mix social commentary with comedy, original songs and out-there outfits in their Adelaide Cabaret Festival show Sugartits.

The show you are bringing to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival has the rather risqué title Sugartits and is described as “guerrilla cabaret”. What can audiences expect?

A whirlwind tour through modern life, as seen through the eyes of two people with absolutely no moral compass and a difficult relationship with facts. Audiences can expect catchy songs, insightful social commentary, some very out-there dance moves – plus free marshmallows and Ritalin.

What are some of the more subversive or freakish topics you touch on?

Maurice is very into tax – all things to do with taxation and financial paperwork. So that’s one fetish we hope to share with an understanding Adelaidean audience. Other topics include the manifold ego-sapping joys of social networking and a very special song we wrote for our friend’s wedding about her fiancé. She cried when she heard it! So sweet.

Is your music all original or do you channel other artists as well?

It’s all original. We write our songs together, with Maurice at the piano and Bourgeois suspended from a specially created harness designed to encourage ideas and blood flow to the head. Musically, we’re inspired by other artists and trends but we don’t do covers. We’ve just recorded our newest album The Third, and for that we were inspired by early glam rock with a bit of Paul Simon and Prince thrown in for good measure. Stocked in all good branches of iTunes.

The words “goth-pop-catwalk nightmare” have been bandied about – tell us about the costumes?

B&M were born from a strange no-mans-land where theatre, music and fashion meet. We’ve always tried to keep a balance between those elements, so what we wear has been integral from the off. This season Bourgeois has hints of Pee Wee Herman mixed with Ziggy Stardustl while Maurice mixes elements of ’20s flapper with some futuristic sci-fi sex-wear. We’ve worked with a designer called Julian J Smith for many years to help create our looks, and he came up with all six outfits for Sugartits.

Just between you, us and the interweb, who exactly are Bourgeois & Maurice?

Here’s the true story – we’re siblings who, through accidental means, became orphans when we blew up our house while trying to install satellite TV way back in the ’80s. We raised ourselves, getting a solid education from TV and the internet, and started to write and perform songs in 2007. Georgeois Bourgeois is the hunky beefcake with the eyelashes and his sister Maurice Maurice is the beehived musical genius with the piano/guitar/keytar/whatever she can get her hands on (note to venue: she has some klepto tendancies, please ensure all fixtures and fittings are well secured).

Bourgeois & Maurice’s Sugartits will be at Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, from June 14-16. The Adelaide Cabaret Festival runs from June 7-22.