Game of Thrones Burlesque: Rude, Crude and a bit less nude

Well last Saturday was quite the night. I went on a solo mission to see the Tourette's Without Regrets Game of Thrones Burlesque show at The Rio Theatre and it was well worth the awkward feeling of sitting beside a stranger. To be fair I at least knew one of the people performing in the show, my friend Jesse Inocalla was playing Tyrion Lannister (the imp) and did so hilariously. You might be thinking "but isn't Tourettes Without Regrets from California?" and you would be right, but probably half the cast was made up of Vancouverites including the fan favourite Little Miss Risk (as Melisandre), the adorable Voodoo Pixie (as Bran) and the demonic Bloody Betty (as the Executioner and Ramsay Snow).

Now being an HBO show Game of Thrones is one of the few shows where there is actually less nudity in a burlesque version of it. That being said, they still managed to make the show quite TITillating, although that could have just been some pasties lacking proper adhesive. They managed to create a sense of comradery in the crowd... by pitting half of them against the other with a Lannister side and a Stark side (I was on the Lannister side) competing in several games to influence the course of the show. Of course we Lannisters won almost all of them.

Most of the roles were excellently cast (although Jaime wasn't very blonde), but I must say that it was George R. R. Martin stole the show. Between his dirty haikus, dorktastic narrations and zany zingers the show simply wouldn't have been the same without him. That said, the one thing that really got my goat about the show was the lack of accuracy of a certain red wedding and who exactly was getting married at it. Aside from that and a couple very minor changes the performance was probably as accurate as burlesque could be to Game of Thrones (although that's not terribly hard).

Of course given the violence of the fight for the Iron Throne you would think that this show would be worthy of a splatter zone. Well it was, there was just no designated area where you knew you would get splashed upon, and not just with blood. All in all it was quite a humourous take on the very grey world of Westeros. If this show comes to your town I would highly recommend checking it out, although if you're going to sit near the stage I would recommend wearing clothes you don't care dearly about, because like all your favourite characters in the show they could end up covered with blood, never to be seen again.

Hodor.