Situated at the corner of Bonnington and Newhaven Road, Guilty Lily is an unexpected surprise with its chandelier, bright silken cushions, high wooden barstools and fairy lights.
There are other hints of this not being your average bar with a full length image of Audrey Hepburn on the ladies toilet door, naughty fin de siècle postcards advertising French cocktails, a framed picture of the cartoon Burlesque queen, Betty Boop, and a Laurel and Hardy film showing in the background.
On Friday 26th Guilty Lily was host to its fifth Burlesque event, this time a Charity Evening in aid of testicular cancer. The entertainment was from five Burlesque acts some of whom were ‘Burlesque virgins’ so it was a brave debut in such an intimate venue.
The event, which stipulated the dress code as ‘smart/cocktail or 20s/50s retro’, didn’t quite get off at the advertised 8.45pm, and could have had more momentum with some music or maybe a bit of comedy between the girls’acts, but the acts themselves were worth the wait.
The night was introduced by Guilty Lily’s own Jimmy Infinity and the M.C. was top hatted Baron Bartholomew Black who introduced the four girls, Spankelicious, Lily La Belle, Lolita Latex and Scarlett Flame, in a music hall vocabularium style.
At the end of the night, the audience voted for the best act whose prize was a paid session at the next Burlesque event at Guilty Lily’s sister venue in Portobello, The Esplanade, which will be in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The winner was Scarlett Flame who did a slow, cool and fantastically skilled black feather fan dance with scarlet ribbons to The Eurythmics I Want You.
The final act was from a professional Burlesque performer, Wild Card Kitty, who had won the Golden Pastie at the New York Burlesque Festival and this was worth waiting for. She morphed from the wolf in a prim Granny’s nightie to a slinky Red Riding Hood in a satin cape to the sound of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs singing their wicked version of Little Red Riding Hood. Great entertainment!
There was an array of glamour in Guilty Lily – fur, feathers, fans, and fantoosh fascinators - all part of the fabulous fun of the Burlesque scene.