When Stella Kulagowski first contacted me about her upcoming play Louise:The Last Dance, being performed at the Edinburgh Fringe 2026, I was intrigued to find out more about “Louise” as, like many others, I had never heard of her before.
I decided to find out more about the “Can Can” creator and found a quiet opportunity to chat with Stella. Join me as she explains more about her show and the life of Louise.
Why have you chosen to bring this show to the Edinburgh Fringe? Have you visited there before?
It’s always been a dream of mine to bring my work to the largest arts festival in the world. It’s a real bucket list item, and I think if you’re an indie theatre creator, it’s just the thing you HAVE to try once. I haven’t had the privilege to travel much, and I’ve actually never been to Scotland or Europe, really. This is also the first time I’ve ever brought my theatre work outside of Toronto. So this is genuinely huge for me. Terrifying, exciting—all of the big, wonderful feelings are happening.
How has the show been received when you have performed at other Fringes and Theatre’s?
Louise has been living in my brain and my body and my drafts for almost ten years now, but the actual first performances of the show were just this June for two previews in Toronto. And I have to say, I was overjoyed with how they went. People laughed, they cried, and I know for a fact they spiked the Google searches for La Goulue after each show, which honestly might be one of my favourite pieces of feedback. Everyone went home wanting to know more about this incredible life story! It’s terrifying premiering a show when the only audience you’ve really performed it for is yourself and your tech guy. You just don’t know how it will land until real people are sitting in front of you. But I think the intention behind it, the feeling I wanted people to leave with, really came through. I can’t wait to see how this morphs and grows over 21 performances in Edinburgh.
When did you first learn about Louise’s life?
I first came to learn about Louise’s life close to 20 years ago in my early burlesque dancing career. I started dancing burlesque almost by mistake and, as the nerd that I am, was drawn to research the history and origins of that dance form. And one of those origins is, of course, the cancan. And when you start to research the cancan it isn’t long until you run into the Moulin Rouge and it’s first star ‘La Goulue’. It was love at first painting, first article, first headline. This woman’s life story was so beautiful, so artistic and so tragic, it’s inspired me in so many ways since.
How long has it taken you to research the life of Louise? And are you still discovering new information about her life?
I’ve been researching Louise in one way or another for easily a decade now. It started with small burlesque and cancan pieces inspired by her, and grew into drafting versions of this show over the years, in audio, in short pieces, in whatever form I could get my hands on. The amount of media of, and about her is honestly shocking once you start digging. And yes, I’m still finding new things every time I sit down to work on this show. Most recently, I actually found a photograph of the real bathtub her lover filled with champagne for her and a photograph of her original gravesite. Her history is like a gift that keeps on giving, the more you shine a light on it.
What in particular sparked your interest in this fascinating ladies’ life?
For me, two particular threads draw me to Louise’s life. One is that her life is the ultimate epic rags to riches to rags tale. How is one woman an impoverished laundress, the highest paid woman in Paris, Renoir and Lautrec’s muse, the creator of a dance form, a lion tamer, AND an attempted murderer, all in one life? Oops, spoilers.
The second thread is that I think she’s one of the first women the press and media used in that way they LOVE to use famous women, building them up to godlike status and then absolutely tearing them down. We still do it. The list of talented women the media has ravaged is endless. And I think everyone who sees this show recognizes it as a kind of origin story for that pattern, one we’re all still living inside of.
Have you experienced doing “flyering” before? (If no, have you thought about which techniques you are going to use?
I haven’t really experienced this particular adventure before, but I’m keen to get out there and participate in the grand tradition of hawking my show on the street. I fully intend to bring a big skirt and pull out a few cancan moves for attention.
Where are you planning on taking this show next?
Oh, I have plenty of grand plans for Louise, but for my next, more achievable goals, I have two. First, I’d like to expand the show slightly to a sixty-minute version and bring in a specialist in archival imagery and a sound designer to help elevate the visuals and audio. I have an idea to make the whole show a little more rhythmic, like a dance itself. And second, I’d absolutely love to do a French translation. I think this show deserves to exist in the original language of its inspiration. And then, of course, bring it first to Montreal and then to Paris.
For more information about Louise:The Last Dance being performed at the Edinburgh Fringe 2026, please use the links below.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/louise-the-last-dance
Theatre, Art and Film Reviews 
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