Boylesque and Male Burlesque in Canada

Boylesque is burlesque performed by men. It keeps the genre's main ingredients of humour, costume, music and a slow reveal, and it asks what happens to those conventions when the performer is male. The scene is small and has taken shape within the wider burlesque revival, including in Toronto and other Canadian cities. This overview describes the form in general terms and does not concern any named troupe or performer.

How troupes start

Male troupes often begin when a performer takes part in an amateur or open-stage night, enjoys the experience and wonders why so few men take part. Organizing auditions and gathering a cast follows, and a group can form within months. Because male burlesque was unfamiliar to many viewers, early reactions often mix surprise with curiosity about what men might do on a stage.

The style of the shows

Acts commonly blend comedy, theatre, satire and sensuality, with ambitions that reach past the removal of clothing. Shows rely on character, story, music and choreography, and some add circus skills such as pole work and aerial silks. Serious or political subjects can appear, usually delivered with humour and flirtation. Everyday types, such as a uniformed officer or a flight attendant, are placed on stage and then unbuttoned in both a figurative and a literal sense.

Questions of glamour

An ongoing creative question is how male performers handle the femininity, sparkle and glamour long tied to burlesque. Whether a performer wears sequins, pasties or a more tailored costume depends on the character and the act. Some performers embrace camp and drag-influenced looks, while others lean on classic showmanship and comic timing.

Personas and collaboration

Troupes are usually built from stage personas that blend an invented character with a performer's real interests, such as an engineer on the pole, a diva with solo numbers and aerial skills, a down-on-his-luck character or a boy-next-door. Collaborations between male and mixed troupes, sometimes with live music or a cabaret theme, widen the audience and let performers borrow skills from one another.

Audience and solidarity

Boylesque artists in different cities often describe a sense of solidarity, since the community is small. Audiences at male burlesque shows tend to be mixed, and promoters of such nights frequently stress humour and spectacle over shock value.

Community and ambitions

Some troupes speak about touring across Canada and appearing at major gatherings such as the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas. Goals of this kind reflect aspirations at one moment and say nothing about any group's current activity.