STAR WARS GETS AN R RATING
PARODY BURLESQUE SHOW ‘THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK,’ WHICH MIXES COMEDY AND STRIPTEASE, LANDS IN S.D.
Back in 2010, Australian burlesque producer Russall S. Beattie started experimenting with one-night pop-culturethemed shows that he called “funny little joke shows.” Then he came up with the idea for a striptease show that parodied the Star Wars universe.
“I was a big nerd,” he said. “I was always into pop culture, and that came together at the same time I wanted to express all my different creative impulses and creative outlets.”
After a sold-out, open-ended nightclub run, Beattie took his show — “The Empire Strips Back: The Unauthorized Burlesque Parody” — to the theater stage and worked closely with Australia’s many costume, prop and design hobbyists to create a state-of-the-art show that lovingly, but humorously, honors the Star Wars film canon.
The two-hour, adults-only show includes a full-size, automated Jabba the Hutt creature, a working R2D2 robot, a Landspeeder, a Tauntaun and more than 30 Star Wars characters, including Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca and a brigade of scantily clad Stormtroopers with particle beam blasters.
“You can enjoy the show if you’ve never seen Star Wars, but if you know Star Wars you’ll get even more out of the show,” Beattie said. “We’re all laughing at ourselves and the fact that we love something so silly, and that’s OK. We want to celebrate that.”
Asked about Lucasfilm’s response to “The Empire Strips Back,” Beattie said that he has lawyers who ensure his show stays within the boundaries of satire and parody, which are protected under the First Amendment’s free speech rights.
“The Empire Strips Back” first toured the U.S. in 2018 and 2019, then shut down during the pandemic. It’s now touring again and finished a monthlong run at the Montalbán Theatre in Los Angeles on Jan. 28. It opened in San Diego on Tuesday.
miss the arrival of San Diego Comic-Con in July, but that’s intentional.
“It’s hard to rent space during Comic-Con, and I find at Comic-Con people are so exhausted all the time, they don’t get out to much beyond the convention,” Beattie said. “Sure, it would do really well, but we can do well without the extra pressure. Let Comic-Con be Comic-Con and we can come around another time and fans will still see us.”
Beattie describes his core “Empire” audience as Star Wars aficionados, as well as parents looking for a date night, groups of friends and comedy fans.
“We advise parents to leave the teenagers at home, but we’re very serious about being silly,” he said. “It’s the same silliness of a kids show, but made for adults. It’s more of a comedy show than anything.”