Hannah Tasker-Poland
Mayfair Theatre
Friday, October 21
REVIEW BY PENNY NEILSON
The Most Naked is a little bit cabaret, a little bit burlesque, a little bit strip tease and a lot of sass.
Hannah Tasker-Poland is the creator and performer of this playful, cheeky and thoroughly entertaining piece.
As we enter the auditorium of the Mayfair Theatre, we are invited in by two enchantresses — as if they are warming us up for the main act.
Two lush, red velvet curtains dress the stage — one as the backdrop, while a smaller one is in front.
After the sultry twosome tantalise and titivate the audience, they drop the small curtain to reveal our chanteuse.
Her body, in full recline, is under a sheet of fabric; and under that fabric is her female form, but in a full bodysuit and sequinned dress.
Not "the most naked" state a person could be in.
She is accompanied on stage by Lucien Johnson, musician and composer, whose piano serves as her chaise lounge for the opening number.
She explains what she is going to be doing and what we anticipate will happen.
The two don’t necessarily equal the same thing.
Tasker-Poland herself has said "the real core of this piece is this ideal of the feminine form."
She wants to make people think, to talk and to make up their own minds by challenging their own perceptions and look beyond just nudity.
The final reveal to her most naked state sees a tongue in cheek body adorned with prosthetic genitalia in all wrong places — much to the audience’s amusement.
Ultimately, though, this show is pure entertainment.
It does talk to the politics of femininity, autonomy and boundaries; but it is a celebration of Tasker-Poland’s life as a woman, of female sexuality, of female empowerment and freedom.
