Midnight Shift - La Bouche Cabaret

Founded in February 2022 and self-managed by four artists - Mascare, Soa de Muse, Bili Bellegarde and Grand Soir - La Bouche is a queer cabaret with multiple and complementary identities, born in a concrete basement near the Porte de Clignancourt, in Paris.

A proud heir to the queer and underground cabaret scene, the show is multidisciplinary, festive, and subversive, blending piano, voice, balaclavas, LGBT archives, spoken word, neon lights, lip-syncing, and personal narratives. From Monique Wittig to Céline Dion and Sexy Sushi, by way of Michel Berger and Malavoi, the performances are constantly evolving according to current events, tributes, and each artist's own inspirations; yet, all remain linked by a common essence: a sexy, punk, pop, sincere, poetic, and always political imagination.

Cabaret La Bouche positions itself as a joyful and vibrant archive of collective histories, driven by the need, duty, and desire to transmit the memories of intersectional struggles and minority rights. On stage, the artists sing and speak about yesterday and tomorrow, about lesbians, racism, queerness, social class, and systemic violence; but above all, about hope and love.

With tenderness and sincerity, they invite the audience to catch their breath and reclaim their freedom. It is, in every respect, cathartic.



▰▰ MASCARE

Sound poet, DJ and subversive artist, Mascare weaves music, memory and words into acts of underground resistance, to make the ghosts of patriarchy dance.

Following her studies in literature and theatre, she brought Belgazou to life: a sound piece conceived as a radio object to fill the void left behind by the colonial machine.

As a DJ, Mascare performs in some of Paris's most iconic venues, such as La Marbrerie, La Station Gare des Mines, and Jeudi OK at Wanderlust. Between 2023 and 2024, she was a resident DJ at L'Œil Club, blending experimental soundscapes with political engagement.

In 2020, Mascare wrote a doctoral thesis entitled *Didier-Georges Gabily: Aberrant Writing* – the first monographic study devoted to Didier-Georges Gabily, a writer renowned for his visceral use of language. A multifaceted artist, she is part of Namoro, a radical lesbian poetic duo oscillating between electronic music, punk experimentation, and incandescent spoken-word with Bili Bellegarde. She also occasionally works as an artistic director for Madame Arthur and appears on stage in Virginie Despentes' plays *Woke* and *Romancero Queer*, currently touring France.


▰▰ BILI BELLEGARDE

With a golden voice and a proudly lesbian pen, Bili Bellegarde rewrites the world through song, blending tenderness, pride, and an unwavering desire to "dyke" it. After her literary studies, Bili initially worked in education, driven by a passion for literature (preferably lesbian), and a desire to share that can now be found in her cabaret.

She met Mascare on the benches of the Faculty of Arts, and in 2018, they formed together the music group Namoro (a radical poetic lesbian duo oscillating between electronic music, punk experiments and incandescent spoken-word).

She regularly performs at Madame Arthur's cabaret under the name Bili L'arme à l'oeil. A beloved FM radio personality, her goal is to "lesbianize" the world: with her golden voice and her song rewrites, she celebrates lesbian love with humor and tenderness. In 2024, she released her first EP, Dyke.


▰▰ GRAND EVENING

Pianist, creature and radical romantic, Grand Soir sings of love and queer nights with the melancholic soul of a reinvented Michel Berger.

Trained as an engineer, Grand Soir narrowly missed his calling in 2013. Rather than accepting a permanent contract in La Défense, he chose the road less traveled, left the bourgeois segregation and went in search of his life as a gay man.

A musical artist, he received classical piano training (music school, conservatory, and masterclasses) and now composes and performs his own songs, sensitively expressing his heartaches, hopes, and worldview, while also celebrating love in its many forms. His music reflects romantic and melancholic influences, from Chopin to Véronique Sanson. Libération even describes him as “the spiritual, ephebic, and transvestite reincarnation of Michel Berger.”

A lover and active participant in Paris's queer nightlife, he has helped organize parties renowned for their freedom (Péripate, Angst, Myst, Gamma). For four years, he even tried his hand, not without some difficulties, at managing the club L'Oeil, which he envisioned as a sanctuary in the heart of the city. He also performs regularly at the Madame Arthur cabaret.


▰▰ SOA DE MUSE

An Afro-futurist creature, a cabaret soul, Soa de Muse transforms drag into total art – a fusion of dream, power and radical commitment.

Soa de Muse is a multidisciplinary artist (burlesque, theatre, contemporary dance) rooted in cabaret, drag culture, and Afrofuturism. She rose to prominence as a finalist on 'Drag Race France S01', before returning on 'All Stars France S01', and became the first-ever Global Lip Sync Assassin, crowned Miss Peacemaker on 'RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars S01'.

Trained in contemporary dance and theatre, she collaborated with Gerard & Kelly on Gay Guerilla, created at the Centre Pompidou in 2023, and was hailed by The New York Times as "a drag performer of titanic presence".

She also created and directs Diaspora, a cabaret celebrating Black excellence, launched on Réunion Island and in Lyon in 2024, and continuing in 2026 at the Carreau du Temple in Paris. Soa is currently part of the cast of WOKE and Romancero Queer, plays by Virginie Despentes touring in France.

Translated automatically - see original description in French