Mel Malarkey Gets the Bum’s Rush

Charlie Petch is a spoken word artist, published writer and musical saw player whose career, which started in Peterborough, has taken off across North America. Here Petch presents a new version of this solo show set in 1931, with new Vaudeville-era music created by Petch. It’s the last night for the Vagabond Theatre and Mel Malarkey can’t bear to tell the audience. They keep up the show, introducing acts and being their bawdy charming self. In their backstage moments, they read odes to their dearest loves and tell touching, comedic stories of owning their “Theatre of the Unrefined.”

Mel Malarkey Gets the Bum’s Rush is both a lament for a time gone by, when entertainment was a more personal and unrefined activity, and a love poem to past entertainers – like her hero Marlene Deitrich. Mature content of course.