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Le Pustra
Le Pustra in Ballhaus Berlin, 2020.
Le Pustra in Ballhaus Berlin, 2020.
Background information
Also known asMadame Le Pustra
BornCape Town, South Africa
GenresCabaret, Actor, Varieté
Occupation(s)Performance artist, singer, actor
Years active2006 (2006)–Present
MembersPerformers: Le Pustra.
Websitewww.madamelepustra.com

Le Pustra (born 1 July 1977) is an actor, singer, salonnier and self proclaimed kunstfigur. He has performed in European Cabaret and Varieté since 2006 but is best known as the creative director of the Weimar Cabaret inspired theatre play Le Pustra's Kabarett der Namenlosen.[1] Le Pustra incorporates elements of 20th-century Theatre, Goth Subculture, Drag aesthetics and Fashion in his work and is often seen in macabre white face make-up, resembling a Weimar porcelain doll or a melancholic Pierrot.

Early life

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Le Pustra (real name concealed) was born in Cape Town, South Africa and relocated to the United Kingdom in 2000 to pursue a career in musical theatre in London. In 2006, Le Pustra emerged onto the London underground Cabaret and Varieté scene appearing in different guises at numerous Club Nights, Cabarets, Festivals and Burlesque events.

Le Pustra's Kabarett Der Namenlosen

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In 2011, Le Pustra created a contemporary reimagining of the Berliner Kabarett during the Weimar Culture interwar years in Berlin. The show was entitled Le Pustra's Kabarett der Namenlosen[2][3] or Cabaret of the Nameless and was first performed on the 24th of September 2011 at the Old Cholmeley Boys Club in London.

In 2016 the project was developed in Berlin and co-produced by Else Edelstahl from Bohème Sauvage.[4] The show featured an international cast and selected music from Friedrich Hollaender, Mischa Spoliansky, Willy Rosen and Kurt Weill. Le Pustra's character was partly inspired by actor Joel Grey, dancer Anita Berber and Marlene Dietrich. The original show, also entitled Kabarett der Namenlosen was a notorious but popular cabaret in Weimar-era Berlin from 1926 till 1932 and created by Erich Lowinsky - also known as "Elow". Le Pustra's vermillion coloured wig was created by hairstylist Nina Butkovich-Budden from Nina's Hair Parlour.

Between 2016 and 2019 American Artist, Ella Guru created three large oil paintings inspired by the show. In 2018, Irish artist Alana Richards created a series of paintings and an art exhibition based on the show's characters entitled: Morphium: Hallucinations of a Kabarett.[5]

In 2020, an unfinished documentary focusing on Le Pustra and the cast was abandoned.

In 2022, Kabarett der Namenlosen was featured in Babylon Berlin Season 4, with Le Pustra reprising his role as Edwina Morell. The scene presents a new interpretation of Erich Lowinsky's notorious cabaret, originally staged at the Monbijou Cabaret in Berlin on Monday nights.

A revival of Kabarett der Namenlosen was staged on the 8th and 9th of December 2023 at Heimathafen Neukölln[6] in Berlin.

Babylon Berlin & Moka Efti Orchestra

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In 2020, Le Pustra made his television debut as Edwina Morell, a sinister cross-dressing souteneur of the Luxor nightclub in the award-winning German crime drama Babylon Berlin Season 3. The character of Edwina was inspired by Le Pustra's Kabarett der Namenlosen theatre show. In Season 4, Le Pustra returns as Morell, hosting the Kabarett der Namenlosen, staged at the Moka Efti nightclub. The scene is reminiscent of Elow's original concept from the 1920s but was written with Le Pustra in mind.

On the 11th, 12th and 13th of September 2023, Le Pustra appeared as a featured soloist in the Babylon Berlin Concert alongside Estonian conductor Kristjan Järvi, singer Max Raabe, actress Meret Becker and composer Johnny Klimek. Le Pustra performed the song Heut' Nacht in Peru. The concert was broadcast on Germany's Das Erste[7] channel as a TV special on the 1st of October 2023.

In 2024, Le Pustra's Morell character is mentioned in a collection of essays by Hester Baer and Jill Suzanne Smith, "Babylon Berlin, German Visual Spectacle, and Global Media Culture[8]", published by Bloomsbury USA. Jill Suzanne Smith further explores Le Pustra's stage persona in "The Afterlives of Weimar Berlin: Twenty-First-Century Literature, Media, and Visual Culture[9]" published by Camden House Publishing.

As of May 2023, Le Pustra has been performing regularly with the big band Moka Efti Orchestra. Le Pustra will join the band and German actor Benno Fürmann as a special guest for the 2025 13-date German tour entitled Der Nasse Fisch (The Wet Fish), written by Volker Kutscher.

In 2025, Le Pustra will return as Edwina Morell in the fifth and final season of Babylon Berlin.

Other Film and Television Appearances

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In 2015, Le Pustra appeared in Director Shelly Love's unfinished fantasy short film The Fallen Circus[10] playing a latex-clad villain and can also be heard on the film's score as a guest musical saw player accompanying The Irrepressibles. Le Pustra's costume was designed by Oliver Garcia who have worked on films such as Maleficent and Hugo. In October 2017, Le Pustra and the cast of Kabarett der Namenlosen performed "Das lila Lied" for the BBC Four series Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein.[11] In 2018, Le Pustra appeared on Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown[12] Season 11 (Episode 6) which aired on CNN.

Music Videos

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In 2018, Le Pustra appeared in a dual role in the music video Black for the Occasion[13] by Faroese artist, Heiðrik á Heygum. The video was filmed on location at the National Theatre of Iceland in Reykjavík. He also appeared in the 2007 music video Starz in their Eyes by British recording artist Just Jack.

Varieté and Cabaret

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Between 2006 and 2015, Le Pustra performed in numerous cabaret and variety shows as a sideshow and comedic performer. He dabbled in tarot card reading, was a self-taught musical saw player and part of the Vaudevillian duo Pustra/Vile-een and The Gorey Cabinet with German actor, Malik Ibheis.[14]

In early 2011, Le Pustra co-produced and wrote a Vaudevillian all-male show entitled 'Villains'[15] which was produced in Rome's Teatro Palladium. RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestant Joe Black (drag queen) co-starred in the show. The show returned to Rome for one night only on 5 September 2011 at the Villa Celimontana Festival.[16]

On 23 October 2012, Le Pustra was invited by Amanda Palmer to join a live musical saw performance (dubbed a Saw-chestra) and accompanying Neil Gaiman's live rendition of Leon Payne's song "Psycho". The Saw-chestra members included Le Pustra, Victor Victoria from musical duo, EastEnd Cabaret and Adrian Stout from cult Cabaret group, The Tiger Lillies.

Other Cabaret appearances include The Royal Academy of Arts, Skibo Castle, Wilton's Music Hall, The Box (London), Venice Carnival, Life Ball (Vienna), Södra Teatern (Stockholm), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Lost Vagueness, Wintergarten Varieté (Berlin), Madame JoJo's (London), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt),[17] Coney Island[18] (New York) and Perth World Fringe Festival,[19]

Club nights include The Face by Steve Strange, Torture Garden, Act ART and Club Room Service by drag queen DJ and party promoter Jodie Harsh.

Fashion, Photobooks and Art

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In 2010, Le Pustra produced and directed a fashion video for Serbian designer Marko Mitanovski which were screened at London Fashion Week, London's Selfridges and Malaysian International Fashion Week. The short fashion film, Mr Pustra's Lament Act II was selected to screen at Diane Pernet's Film Festival, 'A Shaded View on Fashion Film' in Milan, Italy in June 2012. That same year Le Pustra walked in London Fashion Week for designer Ziad Ghanem[20] and was invited back the following year. Le Pustra also modelled for fashion designer Ivana Pilja in 2013 and they collaborated once again for Berlin Alternative Fashion Week in September 2015 and March 2016. Other credits include a fashion campaign for Air Berlin and a cameo in the fashion film The Dionysian directed by filmmaker Stephen Lally.

Le Pustra's image have been published in British and Italian Vogue,[21] Hunger Magazine,[22] Reuters,[23] French Playboy, I-D, Dark Beauty Magazine,[24] Spindle Magazine[25] and various published books on nightlife and clubbing culture including New Club Kids: London Party Fashion in the Noughties[26] by photographer, Oggy Yordanov, What Else Is in the Teaches of Peaches[27] by Peaches (musician) Night Flowers by Damien Frost[28] Boy Story[29] by Magnus Arrevad, In der Fremde: Pictures from Home by Romeo Alaeff and The Fantastic World of Atelieri O. Haapala.[30]

In 2020, Le Pustra co-authored a chapter with Dr. Anna-Sophie Jürgens[31] for the book Circus and the Avant-Gardes: History, Imaginary, Innovation[32] published by Routledge. The chapter, entitled Glam Clowning: From Dada to Gaga – A Conversation with Le Pustra explores the origin and reinterpretation of the Dada inspired vinyl suit made famous by German countertenor and New Wave artist, Klaus Nomi.

Lectures

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Le Pustra has participated as a guest speaker for various Educational Institutions including UCLA, Goethe-Institut, CIEE in Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, The Australian National University and Freie Universität Berlin. Between 2022 and 2023 a series of online illustrated talks were created for Morbid Anatomy.[33] with provocative titles such as Anita Berber: Tanz der Schönen und Verdammten and Opium: Darkling's Muse.

References

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  1. ^ "Le Pustra's Kabarett der Namenlosen". Heimathafen Neukoelln. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Berlin's alternative nightlife, from cabaret to porno karaoke". The Independent. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  3. ^ Burshtein, Karen (29 January 2018). "From Burlesque to Bauhaus, Here's Where to Find the Roaring '20s in Berlin Today". Vogue.com. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  4. ^ "BOHEME SAUVAGE - Eine Hommage an das Nachtleben der Zwanziger Jahre". Boheme Sauvage.
  5. ^ "Sechs Wochenendtipps: Von Schnapsfestival bis Graffiti-Schau" (in German). Berliner Morgenpost. 2 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Der Heimathafen Neukölln – dein Theater in Berlin Neukölln". heimathafen-neukoelln.de. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Babylon Berlin in Concert". Das Erste. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  8. ^ "Babylon Berlin, German Visual Spectacle, and Global Media Culture". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  9. ^ "The Afterlives of Weimar Berlin: Twenty-First-Century Literature, Media, and Visual Culture". Boydel and Brewer. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  10. ^ "The Fallen Circus – Chapter One". Shellylove.co.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  11. ^ "BBC Four – Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein". Bbc.co.uk.
  12. ^ "Here's what Tony and his guests had to say about Berlin". Explorepartsunknown.com. 6 June 2018.
  13. ^ "HEIDRIK - Black For The Occasion". YouTube. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  14. ^ "Malik Ibheis". IMDb. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  15. ^ "Teatro Palladium, l'evento teatrale dell'anno: Villains". Roma Daily News (in Italian). 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012.
  16. ^ "Villa Celimontana chiude la stagione con i Villains di Mr Pustra e Joe Black – Corriere Roma". Roma.corriere.it.
  17. ^ "SCHIRN AT NIGHT in der Ausstellung "Geheimgesellschaften"". www.schirn-magazin.de. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Noisefest at Coney Island USA - FREE! - Sunday April 3, 2011". coneyislandfunguide.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Sideshow Macabré – OUTInPerth – LGBTIQ News and Culture – OUTInPerth – LGBTIQ News and Culture". outinperth.com. 14 February 2012.
  20. ^ "Exceptional models bring Matka Joanna to lifes". Retoxmagazine.com. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  21. ^ "PhotoVogue – Vogue". Vogue.
  22. ^ "Katy Kingston". Hungertv.com. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  23. ^ Hanschke, Hannibal (19 September 2016). "In Berlin, the party goes on despite threat of club closures". Reuters. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016.
  24. ^ "Behind the Scenes with Le Pustra". Darkbeautymag.com. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  25. ^ "Spindle Magazine". Spindlemagazine.com.
  26. ^ "New club Kids by Oggy Yordanov – Waterstones". Waterstones.com.
  27. ^ Peaches; Talinski, Holger; Ono, Yoko; Page, Ellen; Stipe, Michael (16 July 2015). What Else Is in the Teaches of Peaches. Akashic Books. ASIN 1617753572.
  28. ^ "Merrellpublishers.com". Merrellpublishers.com. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  29. ^ "Magnus Arrevad Photography – It doesn't have to be boring". Boystory.org.
  30. ^ "Atelieri O. Haapala". Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  31. ^ Jürgens, Dr Anna-Sophie. "Researchers". Australian National University.
  32. ^ Jürgens, Anna-Sophie (2022). Circus and the Avant-Gardes: History, Imaginary, Innovation (1st ed.). Routledge. ISBN 978-0367757281.
  33. ^ "Morbid Anatomy". Morbid Anatomy.
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