Review: 99 Red Hot Kitties and a Cockatoo, Fringe 2023

It was yet another night at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Birdy was booked in to see yet more burlesque – with ’99 Red Hot Kitties and a Cockatoo’!

As a rule of thumb, you can never see too much burlesque! 99 Red Hot Kitties and a Cockatoo caught my eye when browsing on the Ed Fringe media portal, and with “a mix of seasoned performers and local, new, up-and-coming performers loving the skin they’re in” it promised to be a fab show!

Our glamorous host Felicity Flirtwell instantly had the audience feeling at ease as she introduced the show and told us how things would go down – and that meant no photography (but it was okay, because there was a photographer there, and I found the pics from last night on Facebook! Which I hope is okay!)

The format

If you’ve been to any burlesque or cabaret variety show, you’ll know how the format goes; the host (in this case Felicity) looks after us and introduces each act with a little about them, and then we all go wild as they come on stage and do their thing!

We were told by Felicity beforehand that there’s no way we’re getting all 99 kitties and a cockatoo tonight – probably to stop us all from claiming false advertising – as there’s only an hour of show to get through. She also explained all the usual burlesque rules and found out who’s a burlesque virgin in the audience.

The vibe

The vibe was friendly and relatively relaxed for the most part – although, despite Felicity encouraging us to make plenty of noise, I did find the crowd to be a tad quieter and more subdued than I’d usually expect from a burlesque show.

I did try to make up for it where I could, by clapping along at points and going for my definitely ‘WOOO’ but due to recovering from a cold, I could feel my voice starting to go.

Still, despite the lack of noise in places, it felt like a supportive crowd, and we couldn’t hear the show that was going on above us – I also doubt they could hear us, despite Felicity wanting us to make the other audience jealous with our noise.

The show itself

The show is a revolving door of burlesque performers – the ‘kitties’ – and so the lineup changes every night. Which only gives you an excuse to go more than once!

On the night in question we were treated to a diverse range of performers as promised, including ElektraShow, Tequila Cookie, Sweet Purple Mystique and Voluptuous von Bon Bon (a double act, and students from the Saltire Burlesque Company, no less!), drag king Joe Crawford, Bella Bird Desirée, Lizzie LaBeau, and headliner Daiquiri Dusk!

Starting off strong, ElektraShow gave a smooth, polished performance – and she took her time getting to the finale, which was appreciated. Clearly a seasoned performer, she didn’t hold back once she got there, and her stage presence and air of confidence meant I knew we were in good hands.

Other main highlights for me included Joe Crawford, who performed a trio of Richard Cheese‘s Welcome to the Jungle, WAP, and – most hilariously of all – Baby Shark! That performance had me laughing out loud, and what a charming gent, with it!

I was also really quite taken by Tequila Cookie’s Wednesday Addams dance!

Sweet Purple Mystique and Voluptuous von Bon Bon performed a bit of a slow yet confident number, using chairs, which was a welcome change of pace. One of them even complimented me on my shoes – which was really the last thing I was expecting at a burlesque show (but thank you)!

I enjoyed all of the acts, and I found the show to be a great mix of performers. I’d definitely go back knowing I’ll see a totally different show next time!

Finally, it was Daiquiri Dusk’s turn to give us her greatest show (quite literally, to the tune of The Greatest Show) and she couldn’t have been more fabulous! What a fantoosh way to end the night.

Overall

I had a great time at 99 Red Hot Kitties and a Cockatoo, and I highly recommend going to see them at least once – the acts change every night (tonight, I can see Glasvegas showgirl Roxy Stardust is going to be there!).