IT’S ROYAL ACCESS ALL ARIAS!
Kate and Wills in a tub? Harry twerking? So what kind of soap opera IS this?
IT’S a jaw-dropping glimpse inside Kensington Palace as Prince William and Kate serenade each other in the bath. Meanwhile Prince Harry grapples with a stripper. But you can relax, the Royal Family’s dignity is intact – these are lookalikes starring in a new musical send-up by arch satirist Alison Jackson.
While the ‘Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’ warble, Pippa Middleton is portrayed as a knicker-flashing maneater and Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson remember their restaurant row.
La Trashiata rewrites arias from famous operas and was created by Bafta-winning photographer Ms Jackson, who famously punctures the celebrity soap bubble with sensational, posed images.
The Mail on Sunday had exclusive access to rehearsals for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival production, which promises not to pull any punches with its exploration of the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll excesses of the rich and famous.
Ms Jackson said: ‘Celebrity culture is a soap opera. It is theatre. The stories we are telling lend
‘The Royal Family are the biggest celebrities’
themselves to the over-the-top world of opera. I have no qualms about including the Royal Family because they are the biggest celebrities in the world. Let’s face it, William and Kate beat Brad and Angelina hands down.’
The Duke and Duchess’s doubles perform a version of Papageno’s duet from Mozart’s The Magic Flute while sharing their delight at the birth of Prince George. William sings: ‘Just think our little boy will be King.’ Kate trills: ‘My life’s work to spawn a King.’
Ms Jackson said: ‘I set it in the bath for added intimacy.’
In another scene, Kate wonders what it will be like to be Queen and dresses up in her husband’s cap and robes.
The sight of ‘ Prince Harry’ cavorting with a stripper echoes the time he was snapped naked in a Las Vegas hotel room. He and his companion are joined by a ‘chorus of Old Etonians’ for a unique take on Libiamo from Verdi’s La Traviata. ‘Let’s drink! Let’s drink so I can forget. About Chelsy, Cressida, and the other one,’ he sings. Ms Jackson said she hoped the Prince would appreciate the joke: ‘We all know Prince Harry likes to have fun and I am sure he has done far worse than in the photos.’
Pippa has been cast as Carmen. In a saucy version of Habanera by Bizet, she sings: ‘My big sister will be queen, but I have assets like you’ve never seen.’ Ms Jackson said: ‘Pippa is seducing every- one with her bottom. She is tempting all of her suitors and, I hope, the audience as well.’
Nigella and Saatchi perform O Sole Mio. They pass each other on gondolas in Venice and she thrusts an ice cream into his face.