I've been interviewed by Aislinn Ball, aka Boo Boo Kitty Couture, about my many jobs and projects.
Aislinn is a very talented local vintage seamstress and the sponsor of my show, The Gilded Merkin. I'm very lucky to have her on board and one lucky lady at each show gets a made to measure dress from her!
I recommend checking out the rest of the series of interviews as there are some very talented creative types in there!
http://blog.boobookittycouture.com/2013/01/meet-scarlett-daggers.html
Scarlett x
The ramblings of a fire eating burlesque performer, show producer and all round crafty so and so.
Sunday 27 January 2013
Sunday 6 January 2013
2012 - the best bits
Looking back 2012 has been quite a busy year for me! Here's a summary of my highs and lows...
The biggest achievement of the year was definitely getting my own burlesque and cabaret show up and running, The Gilded Merkin! July's debut show, and the second in November, were both massively successful, the venue was packed and the feedback I've had since has been wonderful. I can't wait to see how it grows in 2013! There are big acts coming to Nottingham! :D
Another high light at the top of my list was learning how to eat FIRE! I've been in awe of performers like Missy Macabre and Red Sarah for a long time and when I saw Red Sarah was doing a fire eating workshop in Birmingham I jumped on it! The class size was small so we all had great one to one attention and I left feeling very well equipped to carry on practising my new skills at home (well, in the garden!), it was a lot of fun. Check out The Fire School for workshop details.
In June I drove up to Chester and spent the day with the fabulous Ina Glo Photography. I'd been looking forward to this shoot for a long time and really hope I can make it up there again this year. Here are a few of my fav's from the day...
I was also asked to perform at some great shows for the first time; The Missy Malone & Friends Burlesque Revue, doing 3 shows across the UK one of which involved a fun road trip to the depths of Wales with Sherry Trifle and Emerald Ace, Electrotease in Leicester, Dr Sketchy's in Newcastle (taking my Dr Sketchy's appearances in the UK up to 7 branches!) and The Frou Frou Club in Hebden Bridge on New Years Eve.
Then there were the good ol' fav's. I was back again at the wonderful Wet Spot in Leeds, Kinky & Quirky in Devon, this time the Exeter venue, Carnival Divine in Manchester, Dr Sketchy's in Birmingham and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in Lichfield, which after their show in February this year will be on hiatus for a little bit while Sherry Trifle and her hubby Ant go jetting off on adventures in Cambodia! So go along and give them a good send off, it's a great show!
I also *finally* got around to getting my showreel filmed. I chose Junction 15 Productions as I was really pleased with the shots they took in another film project I was involved with in 2011, a music video for the band Lesbian Bed Death. I can't wait to get started on the other secret film plans we have for this year.
And for those of you who are interested, click HERE to watch the music video ;)
I'm lucky in that the only real low I had was being involved in a minor car accident in October which unfortunately wrote off my fab little Yaris :( but the silver lining that was the driver of the van that hit me admitted fault and I was able to buy the car I'd been dreaming of owning for years, a Chrysler PT Cruiser. Hubba Hubba.
Oh and the pup didn't enjoy March much as we had him snipped! Oh the guilt.....
And how could I forget this big event.... I QUIT MY DAY JOB! In November, after seven years of working for the NHS, following an unpleasant event where the management proved how little they care for their employees, I handed in my notice to become a fully self employedlayabout cabaret monkey. So please wish me luck for 2013!
Scarlett
x
The biggest achievement of the year was definitely getting my own burlesque and cabaret show up and running, The Gilded Merkin! July's debut show, and the second in November, were both massively successful, the venue was packed and the feedback I've had since has been wonderful. I can't wait to see how it grows in 2013! There are big acts coming to Nottingham! :D
 |
| Gilded Merkin artwork by Charlotte Thomson-Morley |
Another high light at the top of my list was learning how to eat FIRE! I've been in awe of performers like Missy Macabre and Red Sarah for a long time and when I saw Red Sarah was doing a fire eating workshop in Birmingham I jumped on it! The class size was small so we all had great one to one attention and I left feeling very well equipped to carry on practising my new skills at home (well, in the garden!), it was a lot of fun. Check out The Fire School for workshop details.
 |
| Video still taken from the workshop. Please excuse the dodgy headscarf arrangement, I was trying not to set fire to my fringe! |
In June I drove up to Chester and spent the day with the fabulous Ina Glo Photography. I'd been looking forward to this shoot for a long time and really hope I can make it up there again this year. Here are a few of my fav's from the day...
 |
| Kiss of the Cobra Woman burlesque act |
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| The Present burlesque act |
I was also asked to perform at some great shows for the first time; The Missy Malone & Friends Burlesque Revue, doing 3 shows across the UK one of which involved a fun road trip to the depths of Wales with Sherry Trifle and Emerald Ace, Electrotease in Leicester, Dr Sketchy's in Newcastle (taking my Dr Sketchy's appearances in the UK up to 7 branches!) and The Frou Frou Club in Hebden Bridge on New Years Eve.
Then there were the good ol' fav's. I was back again at the wonderful Wet Spot in Leeds, Kinky & Quirky in Devon, this time the Exeter venue, Carnival Divine in Manchester, Dr Sketchy's in Birmingham and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in Lichfield, which after their show in February this year will be on hiatus for a little bit while Sherry Trifle and her hubby Ant go jetting off on adventures in Cambodia! So go along and give them a good send off, it's a great show!
I also *finally* got around to getting my showreel filmed. I chose Junction 15 Productions as I was really pleased with the shots they took in another film project I was involved with in 2011, a music video for the band Lesbian Bed Death. I can't wait to get started on the other secret film plans we have for this year.
And for those of you who are interested, click HERE to watch the music video ;)
I'm lucky in that the only real low I had was being involved in a minor car accident in October which unfortunately wrote off my fab little Yaris :( but the silver lining that was the driver of the van that hit me admitted fault and I was able to buy the car I'd been dreaming of owning for years, a Chrysler PT Cruiser. Hubba Hubba.
 |
| Obviously not my real number plate! haha |
Oh and the pup didn't enjoy March much as we had him snipped! Oh the guilt.....
 |
| Sulking in the cone of doom |
And how could I forget this big event.... I QUIT MY DAY JOB! In November, after seven years of working for the NHS, following an unpleasant event where the management proved how little they care for their employees, I handed in my notice to become a fully self employed
Scarlett
x
Wednesday 2 January 2013
New Years Eve at The Frou Frou Club
My last show of 2012, and I suppose also the first of 2013, was the fabulous Frou Frou club in Hebden Bridge, run by Lady Wildflower. It was my first time at this show and I had such a good night. The atmosphere on and off stage was brilliant, I spent the evening with lovely ladies backstage and the crowd were amazing!
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had as much fun as we did! I'll post some official photos from the show when they're ready.
I haven't made any resolutions but have certainly made big plans for 2013. I'm hoping to release three new acts, two of them using my new fire skills. I can't wait to get started on them!
What are your big plans?
Scarlett
x
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| Backstage with Lady Wildflower, me, Havana Hurricane, Heidi Bang Tidy, Ivy Wilde and Rosie Afterglow |
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| Snappy O'Shea's side-butt |
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| Sparkly boobs |
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| Ivy and Havana backstage |
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| Getting ready for act No1 - Kiss of the Cobra Woman |
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| Heidi beats me in the sparkly boobs contest! |
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| MIDNIGHT! Happy New Year! |
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| Seeing in the New Year with Snappy O'Shea |
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| Photo (c) Heidi Bang Tidy |
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| Photo (c) Havana Hurricane |
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had as much fun as we did! I'll post some official photos from the show when they're ready.
I haven't made any resolutions but have certainly made big plans for 2013. I'm hoping to release three new acts, two of them using my new fire skills. I can't wait to get started on them!
What are your big plans?
Scarlett
x
Sunday 14 October 2012
Showreel!
Yesterday I got an email that I had been very eagerly waiting for!
My showreel, filmed by Darren and Suze of Junction 15 Productions, was edited and ready to reveal!
A couple of weeks ago we spent a great day at the Glee Club in Nottingham (where The Gilded Merkin and Dr Sketchy's are held), filming four of my favourite acts and some of my newly acquired fire skills.
What do you think?!
Scarlett
x
My showreel, filmed by Darren and Suze of Junction 15 Productions, was edited and ready to reveal!
A couple of weeks ago we spent a great day at the Glee Club in Nottingham (where The Gilded Merkin and Dr Sketchy's are held), filming four of my favourite acts and some of my newly acquired fire skills.
What do you think?!
Scarlett
x
Tuesday 11 September 2012
Bond themed fun!
I've had a busy old weekend! On Saturday I was performing at a corporate team building event with the Kiss Kiss Bang Bang crew at the beautiful Ingestre Hall in Stoke. It was the second time I had performed in this stunning building, the first being at Sherry Trifle's wedding with Missy Malone last year.
The company "Quick Release" had loads of fun Bond themed activities planned for their lucky employees, from helicopter rides to nearby shooting ranges, archery, ninja games and of course the "From Russia with Love" Kiss Kiss Bang Bang burlesque show.
When I arrived Sherry and I put our faces on and squeezed into posh frocks waiting for the choppers to ferry in the hoardes for our planned Bond photoshoot with Rebecca Cooper. It was a fun hour of playing with fake guns and fake martinis!
Darren and Suze from local film company Junction15 were there making a mini Bond film for QR, which I got roped into helping out with (ok, that's a fib, I volunteered and LOVED it). My Bond girl role involved slipping a suspect powder into Bond's drink and later smashing him over the head with a bottle (sugar glass, not real).
The show was a lot of fun and starred Sherry, Stage Door Johnny and myself as well as a set by Johnny and the Speedos. Everyone got up for a dance and we stayed up until the small hours playing roulette in the basement.
After a few hours sleep we were up again and joining in the fun with the QR guys. I used to love archery but hadn't done it for a long time. After missing the target completely with my first few arrows I soon got the hang of it!
At the end of the afternoon we were invited to sit in on the company's "de-briefing" meeting and were presented with a huge bouquet of flowers each, which was a lovely surprise!
Sherry and I then scooted up to Lichfield for our second show of the weekend. A charity show run by Cherry Vanilla.
We were there with comedienne Barbara Nice and it was lovely to hang out backstage chatting the evening away until we performed.
I was very glad to be back in my own bed on Sunday night and very unimpressed to have to emerge again for work on Monday morning!
Scarlett
x
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| Ingestre Hall - image pinched from Sherry Trifle's blog! |
The company "Quick Release" had loads of fun Bond themed activities planned for their lucky employees, from helicopter rides to nearby shooting ranges, archery, ninja games and of course the "From Russia with Love" Kiss Kiss Bang Bang burlesque show.
When I arrived Sherry and I put our faces on and squeezed into posh frocks waiting for the choppers to ferry in the hoardes for our planned Bond photoshoot with Rebecca Cooper. It was a fun hour of playing with fake guns and fake martinis!
 |
| This gun was really a lighter |
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| Sherry and I playing with firearms |
Darren and Suze from local film company Junction15 were there making a mini Bond film for QR, which I got roped into helping out with (ok, that's a fib, I volunteered and LOVED it). My Bond girl role involved slipping a suspect powder into Bond's drink and later smashing him over the head with a bottle (sugar glass, not real).
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| Daggers smash! |
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| With the ever so lovely Stage Door Johnny |
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| Backstage. Lady Liberty vs The Cobra Woman |
 |
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| I didn't do very well! |
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| Sherry and I playing Robin Hood |
At the end of the afternoon we were invited to sit in on the company's "de-briefing" meeting and were presented with a huge bouquet of flowers each, which was a lovely surprise!
Sherry and I then scooted up to Lichfield for our second show of the weekend. A charity show run by Cherry Vanilla.
We were there with comedienne Barbara Nice and it was lovely to hang out backstage chatting the evening away until we performed.
I was very glad to be back in my own bed on Sunday night and very unimpressed to have to emerge again for work on Monday morning!
Scarlett
x
Thursday 9 August 2012
Playing with fire
A couple of weeks ago I spent a few hot and smokey hours in a warehouse in Birmingham learning the basics of working with fire. It's a skill I've been wanting to learn for such a long time and I was so excited to finally get started! The workshop was run by Red Sarah, a very well known and respected circus and burlesque performer from London.
There were four of us in the class and after running through all the health and safety issues and selecting our equipment we took it in turns to get the feel of the fire on our skin, building up our confidence and reducing our arm hair as we went! The first time I touched the wick to my tongue was a strange experience but the taste wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting and I managed to extinguish the fire on my first try at eating it *smug*.
It was such a fun afternoon and I highly recommend Sarah as a teacher if anyone else is thinking of having a go. Details of her workshops are on her website (linked above).
I took a little video at the end of the afternoon but it won't load here :( I'll try and fix that and post it later.
I've been practising whenever I can in my garden, inbetween the torrential rain and gail force winds, and I think I've freaked my neighbours out a little.... and the dog. So watch this space for a fire eating burlesque act. I already have a great idea in my head and have started making the costume already!
This Saturday is our 3rd birthday at Dr Sketchy's Nottingham! We have performances from Marianne Cheesecake and Coco Malone and modelling from Eliza DeLite. We have so many surprises in store and a prize table busting at the seams with goodies for our audience, including another massive stack of comics from our newest sponsor Page45, the only place to get comics in Nottingham (and I'm not just saying that because they sponsor our show, they are truly awesome and really know their stuff!)
Will I see you there?
Scarlett
x
There were four of us in the class and after running through all the health and safety issues and selecting our equipment we took it in turns to get the feel of the fire on our skin, building up our confidence and reducing our arm hair as we went! The first time I touched the wick to my tongue was a strange experience but the taste wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting and I managed to extinguish the fire on my first try at eating it *smug*.
It was such a fun afternoon and I highly recommend Sarah as a teacher if anyone else is thinking of having a go. Details of her workshops are on her website (linked above).
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| Lovely wooden handle fire sticks bought from Red Sarah |
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| New use for a champagne ice bucket! |
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| Essential fire gear |
I took a little video at the end of the afternoon but it won't load here :( I'll try and fix that and post it later.
I've been practising whenever I can in my garden, inbetween the torrential rain and gail force winds, and I think I've freaked my neighbours out a little.... and the dog. So watch this space for a fire eating burlesque act. I already have a great idea in my head and have started making the costume already!
This Saturday is our 3rd birthday at Dr Sketchy's Nottingham! We have performances from Marianne Cheesecake and Coco Malone and modelling from Eliza DeLite. We have so many surprises in store and a prize table busting at the seams with goodies for our audience, including another massive stack of comics from our newest sponsor Page45, the only place to get comics in Nottingham (and I'm not just saying that because they sponsor our show, they are truly awesome and really know their stuff!)
Will I see you there?
Scarlett
x
Friday 13 July 2012
ElectroTease and the Gilded Merkin debut!
It's been a few days since these two shows but I've been taking a well earned rest!
Last Friday I took a trip a little way down the M1 to Leicester, to perform at a show called ElectroTease run by Eliza DeLite.
It was lovely to see Eliza, Rose and Constance again and meet the other ladies on the bill.
This was such a fun show and the audience were lovely. I even went out and had a quick dance afterwards (in my balloon pop costume as I had forgotten to take a dress with me!)
Here's one of my favourite shots from the night, taken by Grace Elkin, mid confetti puff!
After the show I dashed to Nottingham to pick up Missy Malone at The Queen of Clubs, a new gay bar that's just opened, where she'd been performing that evening. I'll be there myself next week so it was lovely to meet the guys who run it. There were some very fancy looking drag queens in that place! Then we headed back to mine for puppy cuddles and tea.
The next morning we popped into Hopkinson's before Missy caught her train to London. This was shamefully the first time I'd set foot in there but I'll definitely be going back again! I came away with a set of stem rose glasses, some cute green vintage buttons and this gorgeous red vanity case.
On Sunday, after months of planning and promoting, it was time for the debut Gilded Merkin show!
It's fair to say I was a bit of a nervous wreck before the show started but there was far too much to do for that to get in the way! I will admit to running downstairs at one point, through the huge queue that was forming, to find my mum and get a quick "good luck" hug before we opened the doors!
Everything went so well, far better than I could have hoped for, the venue was absolutely rammed with people and the show ran without a hitch and perfectly to time! It's not surprising really though considering the performers I was working with, all total pro's, and the staff at The Glee Club who were all fantastic!
Here are just a few of the great shots taken by Candee Photography....
I'm still on a high and have been getting wonderful feedback from so many people saying how much fun they had and that they can't wait for the next one which is fantastic to hear!
The next date is Sunday 11th November and stars Missy Malone, Tricity Vogue, Missy Macabre, Sherry Trifle, Carrie-Ann (Dita Von Teese tribute) and The Great Aziz! I'll hopefully see you there!
Scarlett
xx
Last Friday I took a trip a little way down the M1 to Leicester, to perform at a show called ElectroTease run by Eliza DeLite.
It was lovely to see Eliza, Rose and Constance again and meet the other ladies on the bill.
 |
| Eliza, Constance and I backstage in our "dressing cave" |
This was such a fun show and the audience were lovely. I even went out and had a quick dance afterwards (in my balloon pop costume as I had forgotten to take a dress with me!)
Here's one of my favourite shots from the night, taken by Grace Elkin, mid confetti puff!
 |
| Copyright Grace Elkin |
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| Rocket the wonder dog |
On Sunday, after months of planning and promoting, it was time for the debut Gilded Merkin show!
 |
| Nottingham Post article Sat 7th July. Photo of me by Ina Glo Photography |
It's fair to say I was a bit of a nervous wreck before the show started but there was far too much to do for that to get in the way! I will admit to running downstairs at one point, through the huge queue that was forming, to find my mum and get a quick "good luck" hug before we opened the doors!
Everything went so well, far better than I could have hoped for, the venue was absolutely rammed with people and the show ran without a hitch and perfectly to time! It's not surprising really though considering the performers I was working with, all total pro's, and the staff at The Glee Club who were all fantastic!
 |
| Backstage with Anna Fur Laxis, Fred Bear, Millie Dollar, Edd Muir, Mysti Vine and stage maid Lea |
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| Me |
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| Velma Von Bon Bon |
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| Millie Dollar |
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| Fred Bear |
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| Mysti Vine |
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| Edd Muir volunteering Fred to take part in his act |
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| Coco Malone |
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| Anna Fur Laxis |
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| Velma Von Bon Bon and Fandango |
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| Millie Dollar |
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| Mysti Vine |
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| Edd Muir |
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| Anna Fur Laxis |
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| Crowd shot featuring Eliza (and Mr) DeLite, Aislinn Ball, Betty D'light and Chaz Royal |
The next date is Sunday 11th November and stars Missy Malone, Tricity Vogue, Missy Macabre, Sherry Trifle, Carrie-Ann (Dita Von Teese tribute) and The Great Aziz! I'll hopefully see you there!
Scarlett
xx
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