Flapper girl lifts lid on naughty 1920s

Sex sells.

Even sex in the 1920s.

That's what Sharon Elizabeth will be hoping when she takes to the stage to perform ForgetMeNot at the Waikato Times Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival next Thursday and Saturday.

The two performances will see Elizabeth, the English-based soprano, transformed into a scandalous former 1920s flapper regaling the audience with stories of love, romance and affairs at the Garden Terrace Restaurant, which will be renamed the Le Jardin de Plaisirs for the evening.

Accompanying her will be musical director and partner Paul Lewis, playing a collection of popular period songs such as Indian Love Call and Fascination.

"I've been living and breathing this music, and this time in history," Ms Elizabeth said.

Creative inspiration for the performance was drawn from period love songs and films, especially 1929 German film Pandora's Box, and its star, iconic leading lady Louise Brooks.

Ms Elizabeth said the 1920s were a time of great social upheaval where, in the years following World War I, women in particular embraced a new and much more independent lifestyle.

"The 20s were a lot wilder than the 60s," she said.

"They were extraordinary people, high on life.

"The flapper girls are a good example of all this.

"There's a huge fragility to that as well though, and I bring that to the character and the performance too," Ms Elizabeth added, noting a few sensitive moments she brings to ForgetMeNot.

Her other performance during the Summer Festival Storm in the Teacup was one of the festival's first shows to sell out, and is "quietly confident" that ForgetMeNot can be a great hit with Hamilton arts lovers too.

"I've performed all around the Waikato before with other shows ... in places such as Tokoroa, Putaruru and Cambridge.

"I feel this is my territory," Ms Elizabeth said.

ForgetMeNot will be performed on February 26 and 28 at the Hamilton Gardens Garden Terrace Restaurant.

Each performance starts at 10pm.

Tickets cost $20 and are available from Ticket Direct.

- © Fairfax NZ News