Eleanor Noyce reviews Yana Alana’s Between The Cracks at Soho Theatre 💙
Standing on the stage of Soho Theatre’s downstairs venue, Yana Alana, completely naked and painted blue from head to toe, remarks that being on stage in the nude is akin to something from a nightmare.
She laughs, as if to make a mockery of the alter-ego which she has created for herself. The audience laughs with her, and I know that I’m in for a night of hilarity…
Yana Alana is the alter-ego and creation of Sarah Ward. Hailing from Australia, she is a self-described, “neo-punk, anti-glamour, cabaret anarchist.”
Everything about Between The Cracks exudes campness and queerness. She remarks not long into the show that there isn’t one straight person in the audience, but this performance isn’t just about queerness and comedy. She openly talks about mental health, politics, feminism and body confidence (all with a comedic twist, of course).
Audience participation is at the heart of Between The Cracks. From the beginning, she playfully interacts with the audience.
Often, stage performance divides the performers and the audience into some sort of hierarchy. This part of the rule-book is thrown out completely by Yana Alana and her self-described “solo act with three people on stage”.
She begins by walking through the audience from the back, and about five minutes into the show, sits on an audience members’ lap (though she, considerately, places a plastic sheet over them to save them blue-stained clothes and a visit to the dry cleaners).
Confident, opinionated women aren’t typically embraced by society. Yana Alana herself knows this, remarking that she is “made blue” by the patriarchy. In fact, her blue-painted naked body, hilariously confident though it is, is a statement.
It accompanies every serious topic she comments on: right-wing politicians who don’t apologise, body-shaming, and mental-health stigma are all things which "turn her blue”.
Not many would appear in the nude on stage and ask an audience member to pull a ribbon out of their behind (yes, this did happen, and it was hilarious).
Yana Alana: you are a breath of fresh air.
Follow Yana on Instagram @yanasbanana and Twitter @YanaAlanaBanana.
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