A Gorey good time

Keeping a stiff upper lip at the Edwardian Ball (Credit: Neil Girling, www.theblight.net)

Pre-Edwardian Ball shopping list:

1. striped tights
2. top hat
3. box of Miss Clairol hair dye (midnight black)
4. tattered copy of Edward Gorey’s “The Doubtful Guest”

For those in the tenacious throes of a darkwave phase, this week’s Edwardian Ball offers the kind of bloated turn-of-the-century opulence that’s hard to resist. Even former emos and recovering goths might be tempted to relapse.

Created by the punk-yet-classical music ensemble Rosin Coven and co-hosted by Bay Area circus freaks the Vau de Vire Society, the ball is a macabre homage to the late, cultishly revered author-illustrator Edward Gorey. Asked if the event was conceived in the haze of a Burning Man vacation, Rosin member Justin Katz concedes, “A friend and I were indeed in the desert, sipping black martinis out of dusty cups, when somehow the idea of throwing a ball in Gorey's honor came about. Edward. Edwardian. It just rolled out like that.”

Bleeding its way down from perennially gloomy San Francisco—where the annual event has been a subcultural staple for eight years running—L.A.’s first Edwardian Ball will take over Downtown’s Tower Theatre on Saturday, Jan. 31. Katz says Angelenos have been “clamoring for us to come down, but it took a stronger connection with local [performers] to draw me in.” The evening will include acrobatics by the lauded SoCal-based performance troupe Cirque Berzerk, live re-enactments of Gorey’s grisly tales, a VIP absinthe bar, steampunk decor, contortionists, fire performers, ballroom dancing and finally—finally—an opportunity to wear that vintage monocle you bought on eBay.

Faithful Gorey fans should be delighted to behold costumes paying insider tributes to his characters. A previous year’s attendee dressed as a gruesome, spot-on sight gag of “K is for Kate who was struck with an axe,” from The Gashlycrumb Tinies’ rhyming odes to dead children. Get those corsets relaced and those musty coattails pressed, then nab a ticket online or in person at the Melrose Avenue curio shop Necromance. You were headed there for a turtle skull anyway, right?

The Edwardian Ball takes place at the Tower Theatre, 802 S. Broadway, Downtown, on Sat., Jan. 31, at 8 p.m.

Check out the freaky, flaming acrobatics of Cirque Berzerk»

Alie Ward is Events editor for Metromix Los Angeles and a recovered goth.

(Photo above courtesy of Neil Girling, www.theblight.net)