Deconstructing Miley

She's been condemned for her overt displays of sexuality. Her transformation from Disney darling to rapacious fame-seeker has seen soccer mums disown her. Love her or loathe her, there's no denying that Miley Cyrus has twerked her way into public consciousness. Now she's the subject of a cabaret show, Wrecking Ball, from Brisbane company Little Red Productions.

Naomi Price, who plays the former child star, is no stranger to tackling stardom, having previously brought British chanteuse Adele to the stage with Rumour Has It: 60 Minutes Inside Adele. “That character's become a member of the family – we all affectionately call her 'Fatty',” Price admits.

To get into character for Adele, Price spent 18 months swigging gin and donning a fat suit – “It's the most comfortable thing I've ever worn.” Unfortunately for Price, Miley prefers much less concealment. To meet the character's tiny dimensions, Price has been forced to go on an exercise and diet regimen, preparing herself for parading on stage wearing nothing but knickers. Having spent the last 12 weeks depriving herself, Price admits, “I've been dreaming about making freshly-baked cookies.”

Aside from the physical, Price says that moving from Adele to Miley has proved challenging in other ways. “I'm English and I identify with Adele: she's curvy, she's self-effacing, she's down to earth, she's got a potty mouth. Miley is harder… She's been playing this her whole life: she's been a person of interest from the moment she was born, then she became the highest-paid child actor ever… and then she had this complete and utter blow-out. With that comes a self-assuredness; she's brazen, she's wild, she's out there. Or at least her public persona is.

“Even the Miley that we're getting now, the half-naked imp with pixie-blonde hair, that's not the real Miley, that's just another persona. All we see is what she gives us, [so] what we try to do is capture the essence of what we know and love, but also give her other facets.”

Wrecking Ball, a eulogy of sorts, sees Miley return to Nashville for Hannah Montana's funeral, mourning the death of her TV alter-ego and with it, her past. “It's about what happens to someone when they leave their hometown and get famous. What happens when they return. The idea that you've outgrown your origins, but then you go back and see that you haven't grown much after all.”

And will we be seeing Price swinging naked on a real-life wrecking ball? “I wish I could say yes,” she laughs. “When we're millionaires and this show tours around the world to great acclaim, we can have the flying hot dogs; I can enter on a slippery slide of my own tongue. When we do our stadium tour we'll definitely put it in.”