Staging class and gender in women’s cabaret in the German Ruhr area

Against the social and historical backdrop of a region often defined by its heavy industrial past, female cabaret performers in the Ruhr area of Germany have been successfully reinventing women’s place in the area’s cultural imaginaries through their parodic working class characters. In-depth interviews and observations of performances focusing on two cabaret artists from the German Ruhr area, Carmela De Feo and Esther Münch, show how contemporary female cabaret artists are reinventing the area’s past and shaping its future. Concepts which emerged from performer interviews as well notions from socio-linguistics, such as indexicality, demonstrate how these performers and their stage personas engage in cultural heritage interventions.