Roll up, roll up! You are invited to an evening of performance and conversation celebrating the wonderful world of ‘showwomanry’ and the launch of the new book: Obsessions of A Showwoman, The Performance Worlds of Marisa Carnesky.  

Delve into the fascinating history of the unconventional and remarkable showwomen – fire walkers, clowns and alligator hypnotists, women who worked for themselves and were often called showgirls, in spite of their extraordinary skill and artistry.

Opening the show is Eirini Kartsaki, followed by a panel discussion with some of the showwomen featured in the book: Marisa Carnesky, Livia Kojo Alour, and Lucifire, in conversation with author Ruth Ivo. The evening concludes with a special performance by Parisian danger artist Lalla Morte.  

Marisa Carnesky has been a pivotal figure in performance and live art over the past thirty years. As a showwoman, she champions alternative visions of matriarchal entertainment utopias and redefines women's relationships with power and politics. She carries on the legacy of dynamic female performers, showcasing remarkable theatrical flair and extraordinary talents with self directed autonomy. Showwomen, as she emphasizes, work for themselves and they command the efforts of others. She is an Olivier Award Winning Showwoman and leads the new BA Contemporary and Popular Performance at Rose Bruford College. Her latest project, a large scale immersive show, Carnesky’s Showwomxn Sideshow Spectacular was presented at the Brighton Festival (2024).  

Eirini Kartsaki is a performance practitioner, writer and Senior Lecturer in Drama at East 15 Acting School, University of Essex, UK. She is the author of Repetition in Performance: Returns and Invisible Forces (2017). 

Livia Kojo Alour is an award-winning Nigerian – German-born poet, writer, musician and theatremaker based in London. Livia is the author of Rising of the Black Sheep, a daring memoir-style poetry collection short-listed for the Polari First Book Prize (2023) 

Lucifire toured the globe for over 20 years as a speciality act, fire eater, circus performer, ring-mistress, and flesh-hook suspension artist.  Most recently she has been performing with the Austrian choreographer Florentna Holzinger in the production TANZ (2023) 

Ruth Ivo has worked at various times as a showgirl, scarer of children on Carnesky’s Ghost Train in Blackpool, area organiser at the likes of Glastonbury Festival, now she has turned to a career in literature. Her debut novel Performance is published by Coronet (2024) 

Lalla Morte specialises in Body Art and Sideshow Skills through a contemporary diverse lens. She co-founded the French troupe Murder Suicide Presents and created live events with underground art magazine HEY! La Cie. She performs in Carnesky’s Showwomxn Sideshow Spectacular (2023, 2024)   

The publication was made possible through the support of Intellect, University of East London, Rose Bruford College and Arts Council England.  It was edited by Eirini Kartsaki, designed by David Caines and published by Intellect 2024.   

Obsessions of A Showwoman, The Performance Worlds of Marisa Carnesky was edited by Eirini Kartsaki, designed by David Caines and published by Intellect 2024. The publication was made possible through the support of Intellect, University of East London, Rose Bruford College and Arts Council England.   






 
Doors and bar open at 18:30. Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event.  

Half price tickets available for Members, Students, Under 26 and other concession groups. 

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