Shanghai MiMi

Overview

Heavy with smoke. Charged with intrigue. 1930s Shanghai is like Dickensian London; it's a locale explored so thoroughly by writers of fiction that reality and fantasy are having a hard time not tripping over each other.

But these spaces are where "volcanic live artist" Moira Finucane creates her best work. Renowned for the creation of sumptuous worlds in which her burlesque performances take place, Finucane recreates the stage of a nightclub cabaret in 1930s Shanghai — the perfect setting for her blend of painstaking detail and raucous subversion.

Chinese jazz fills the air where acrobats had flown, seconds before. And on the ground, an international array of singers and dancers appear from all quarters, slinking through the half-light of the club. At Shànghǎi MiMi上海咪咪's, the real and imagined fall prey to a far more powerful force — immersion.

Shànghǎi MiMi上海咪 is part of Sydney Festival's dramatic and diverse 2019 program. Check out the full lineup here.