Unity Theatre: Story of seductive Spanish dancer who hid Irish origins

Sep 30 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

DANCE, passion, femininity, life and love are not what they appear – or maybe what 19th- century society could not believe – in a new production that tells the life story of a flamboyant Spanish dancer who wasn’t everything she seemed.

Lola, at the Unity Theatre on Fri-day and Saturday, is about Lola Montez – an Irish-born, self-taught dancer who made her own way in times when women were more often to be seen, rather than heard.

She was, in fact, born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, in County Sligo, in 1821, but, as an adult, she reinvented herself as Lola Montez and went on to perform throughout the world, seducing many wealthy and influential men on the way, including Franz Liszt and King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Lola led a tumultuous and often scandalous life, living the life of a celebrity, but dying alone at just 39.

Hers was, according to director Emily Gray, artistic director of Trestle Productions, a story that begged to be told.

She said: “I read a biography of her and she leapt out at me. I thought this woman needs to be celebrated and put on stage.

“She was an incredibly powerful woman and a lot of what she was going through has very contemp-orary resonances. She had the audacity to believe she could be a dancer when she was not trained, and pulled off this persona that people believed she was Spanish.”

In fact, after her family left Ire-land, she spent her childhood in India – even stopping to be baptised in Toxteth as the family made their way East. She may also have re-turned to Liverpool as a girl, as she was often sent to stay with relatives in the school holidays.

She travelled around the world but was particularly known in America, where she died in 1861 after lecturing in later life.

“She was amazing, eloquent and witty, a funny, very clever woman ahead of her time,” said Ms Gray.

Lola’s unique tale is told through her own words with music from renowned guitarist Ricardo Garcia.

She is played by actress Georgina Roberts, with Fiona Putnam playing the other characters in Lola’s life.

vickyanderson@dailypost.co.uk