Gardenia by Les Ballets C de la B is an exhibition about getting older, saying goodbye and holding onto hope. Actress Vanessa Van Durme, who was born a man, was inspired by the probing film Yo Soy Así about the loss of a transvestite bar in Barcelona and wrote a play about it with Alain Platel and NTGent.
A group of older transsexuals and transvestites stand on a sloping stage. They are not actors, but Van Durme's friends. She grips the microphone and sings 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' by Judy Garland in a deep voice. It is a song about the future and about dreams. When she finishes her song, she requests a moment of silence to honour the end of cabaret Gardenia’s 40-year run. The mood is resigned. The actors undress on stage and exchange their suits for dresses, transforming themselves from men to women.
This exhibition parades every cliché about transvestite life without becoming grotesque. On the contrary, the real-life wrinkles and hairy legs in improbably high heels show that being a man and wanting to be a woman, even just for a while, counts. The show is in turns hilarious, gripping and always true-to-life. Gardenia has enjoyed worldwide success and has been performed on all of the great stages.
Hein Janssen, de Volkskrant:
“Gardenia is a show about the search for identity, for security and the need to belong. It is also about a penchant for theatricality, wilfulness, showing who you are and showing you are here.”
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