…In which we learn of the past of our anti-heroine…how she fell from respectability…. and became a notorious fallen woman and villainess….
SCHOOLING
Photograph by Scott Anthony Kelly (www.pitchcreativeservices.info), Clothes by Lulu Vintage Clothing of Monkstown, Hat by kate Betts, Make up by Ruth O' Rourke MUA
Rose Lawless studied in the Stanislavsky Focus Theatre, Dublin. Her teacher was the late celebrated radical actress, Deirdre O’Connell. She would notoriously enter actor’s studio, rousng her students with the battle cry - ‘Good morning Comrades!‘
Rose learned life lessons from the communal squat she inhabited in the docklands of Dublin in her teens. ‘The rich girl gone wrong,’ as she calls herself, she ran away from an expensive boarding school to ‘join the anarchists’ at 16. This is where she developed her love for the poetry of the French Revolution – and where she began to learn to love the inherent beauty of reclaimed old houses and restored vintage objects.
COMEDIENNE AND CABARET SINGER
Rose learned her comedy in the cutting edge stand up community of Dublin, performing in ‘The Ha’penny Bridge,’ ‘The International Bar,’ Vicar street’ and ‘The Laughter Lounge.’ She was a finalist in Channel 4 and BBC competitions in Edenburgh. Soon she began creating comedy and cabaret shows, using her own original songs and jokes, collaborating in an acclaimed show, she called, Strike while the girls are Hot.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE FALLEN ANGELS
Then in 2004, Rose was asked to return to the Focus theatre to become Artistic Director of a weekly Cabaret show, she called The Fallen Angels. Her aim was to create a raw and radical show – Cabaret for the spirit of our time. She invited comics, musicians, writers, jokesters and freaksters to tread the boards and bare their wares, their souls – and often their bodies!
Rose hostessed with her own sensual and entertaining songs, inspired by the spirit of Jacques Brel and the salons of Paris – and there were many wonderful guests from Jack L and Camille O’Sullivan to Ronnie Drew, David McSavage, The Waterboys and Ann Gildea of ‘The Nualas’.
Rose’s cabaret developed a cult following, becoming known for ‘flying the flag for the true spirit of Cabaret,’ (Sunday Independent). She won the award for Best Show in the Spiegeltent in the Dublin Fringe Festival. This opened many doors, she toured the country with highly acclaimed and popular shows – always writing new material, experimenting and inviting new talents to collaborate.
AN OSCAR FAIRY TALE
THE CABARET REVOLUTION.
In 2007, Rose created her own solo Cabaret show, called CABARET REVOLUTION. It is this charged and comedic show, evolved out of years of immersion in the glorious Dublin underbelly of creative anarchy, that she is currently performing and touring.
FEATURE FILM
Rose has recently finished writing a feature film about the political and creative world of Cabaret in Dublin. Called Liberty Leading the People, it’s inspired by the French Delacroix painting of that name. The plot is based on her journey to write ‘a song that had to be sung‘ – the glorious Cabaret Revolution of Love!