Belinda Raisin is taking her highly successful one-woman cabaret, 'Confessions Of A Control Freak', back to the stages of greater Brisbane.
Belinda’s debut performances of the comedy show, back in 2012 at the Judith Wright Centre, were so well received, she was booked for the 2013 Adelaide Fringe Festival, played national dates in 2014, and experienced sell out hometown seasons in consecutive years.
‘Confessions’ is a fast-paced, hour of crack ups; where Belinda dances, sings and yoga-poses her way into the role of a complete and utter control freak named Frances. “It’s about Frances really searching for balance … inserting yoga and meditation into her routine, and completely failing at it essentially. She is still trying to control every single moment, and the chaos ensues. It stems from the whole idea of control breeds chaos.”It’s no wonder tickets for her first 2015 show, at Redland Performing Arts Centre, didn’t last long. “We just had to put a second show on, because the first show sold out,” says Belinda.
Only performing three shows, Belinda has been a little preoccupied with a new arrival. “I’ve just had a little baby girl, so she’s taking up a bit of my time at the moment. For this year, I probably won’t book any more [dates], because I toured it regionally last year.”Belinda definitely appears to have her life under control, appearing in films and commercials between theatre stints and being a new mum. “I had about four months off, and then got back to work. My energies have been turned much more towards family at the moment, and trying to get this show back on its feet. The mad scheduling is even madder once you insert a child into the equation.”
Belinda wrote and performed a ten minute sequel, ‘Obsessions Of A Control Freak’ for Brisbane’s Short And Sweet Cabaret Festival last year. This saw her develop Frances’ character under different circumstances. “I started writing that when I was on tour. There is just so much material to draw upon when you’re a control freak, especially with the experience of being pregnant; I was about seven months pregnant when I performed that. It was going back to that idea of control, and taking it to an even more extreme level.”Belinda is not sure yet if this mini-sequel will evolve into a full-length show. “It’s waiting for me to find a spare moment, to get back in the creative room with my Musical Director and pianist [Jamie Teh]. The show really wouldn’t be the same without him. He’s completely blind, and at one stage I was trying to get the music written down so, if I ever needed to perform it without him, I could. But that would involve transcribing the entire show; his fingers don’t leave the piano the entire time. He’s amazing, it all evolved from us working off each other.”
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‘Confessions Of A Control Freak’ is sure to delight Brisbane audiences once more, as Belinda promises every show is unique in cabaret. “It is lovely just being able to really focus on the audience, and that they are on the journey with you. Every night has a different flavour to it, and the potential for things to go other than planned.”
‘Confessions Of A Control Freak’ plays at Redland Performing Arts Centre, 11 September and Redcliffe Cultural Centre, 9 October.
