The Empire Strips Back – A Star Wars Burlesque Parody

If George Lucas sold Star Wars to Playboy instead of Disney it would look something like this. Star Wars has become so entrenched in our pop culture that it now seems apt that the Force goes topless.

Well-meaning theatre friends told me to expect a staged adult version parody of the Star Wars movies. Nope. This is a burlesque revue good and proper. No story here, just talented dancers performing mostly striptease routines in Star Wars costumes and G-strings, with an entertaining emcee keeping the audience fired up between routines.

This is upmarket burlesque done properly, so while there are bountiful boobs and buttocks brazenly bouncing over the boards, you’re bound to behold more bareness basking at Bondi Beach. Except for the one male dancer in the cast, any revealing of nipples is done just before the lights go off, or in brief glimpses. This show is all about the art and the parody. The high productions values put it in line with what you could see in Las Vegas or the Paris Follies.

The cleverness and art lay not only in the dancing but also in the choice of pre-recorded song that accompanied the character. The show features realistic life-size moving models of Jabba the Hutt, a Tauntaun, and R2-D2.  George Lucas originally drafted C-3PO as a female, so it’s interesting to see this show’s Threepio remove its gold plating to reveal a woman underneath.

Each routine is presented with its own style and mood. This ranged from the cheeky (“Lukette” Skywalker washes her landspeeder and herself) and the sensual (lesbian Twi’leks anyone?), to the military (a Stormtrooper troop performs in troupe).

In further clever use of pop culture the evil emperor shows he has a relative in Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, and later swings along to Miley Cyrus on his Death Star wrecking ball. Even Yoda gets jiggy with it. And who knew Han and Chewie were a closet gay couple?

Full marks to the choreography by Tasia, who created moves that not only incorporated burlesque, but also reflected the nature of the individual characters. Lesser choreographers, especially those of music videos, take note: here are burlesque routines that avoid thrusting groins (unless done for humour) and clutched crotches yet are all the more effective for it. Not a pole was danced or seen.

The routines I found to be the most provocative and sensual were those where the dancers kept the stripping to a minimum, revealing little or no flesh: Boba Fett, the Tusken Raiders, and a black latex clad Dominatrix Darth Vader. I don’t know if that says something about me or the burlesque.

You may never be able to see Star Wars the same way after seeing the Empire strip back. And true fans will be pleased to know that Han shoots first.

Peter Novakovich