Noa Finkelstein

What my show actually looks like

I came from drama school and from the cosplay community, and my show is a performance with a character in it. I play a role — there is expression, there is a voice, there is interaction with props. I do not come out in a costume, I become the character for fifteen minutes.

You see the difference in the first second. A dancer in a costume stays a dancer; I walk into the room already in character, speaking in her voice, moving like her. Half the guests do not understand what is happening at first, and that is exactly the effect.

I am the only one in the gallery doing cosplay with real acting behind it. I build the characters myself — they are drawn from the comics and gaming worlds rather than copies of a specific commercial character. There is a legal reason for that and an artistic one, and both are good.

Who I suit

A birthday for someone connected to that world — comics, games, anime. There my show lands completely differently from anything else.

Themed parties, surprise evenings, a stag night for a group that likes the unexpected. A company event too — in the clean version it is a character act you can show anyone.

And I am the strongest choice for a surprise. Arriving in character buys half a minute where nobody knows what is happening, and no other style gives you that.

Where it works

Any room with two metres and a chair. I do not need a high ceiling or a particular floor, because my show is acting rather than acrobatics.

What does help is a door. If I can come in from a side room rather than appear from the corridor, the entrance works twice as well. I work across Florentin, Jaffa and the metro area.

What I do not do

I do not step out of character mid-show to be ordinary for a moment. It breaks everything I have built, and if you want a show without a character, another style is simply better.

Nobody touches the props. The bat, the masks and the fake weapons are handmade and some take weeks.

No filming, no touching unless I invite it, and the show ends when it ends.

How I got into this

Three years at drama school and then two in a small theatre. Alongside that I did cosplay at conventions from nineteen, as a completely separate hobby.

The first show was a friend asking for a surprise evening. I combined the two worlds for the first time and it worked so well that I realised nobody here was doing it.

I am twenty nine, five of those years in this. I sew and build the costumes myself, and every new character takes a month before it is ready.

What I bring and what I need from you

The costume for the character you picked, her props, full makeup and the music. The bag is large and I arrive by car.

From you: a side room for twenty minutes. More than the others need, because character makeup takes time and cannot be rushed.

And ideally a door to come through. The entrance is half the show, and without a door I lose it.

Mistakes people make when they book me

Not clearing a room to get ready. Twenty minutes and a mirror is the minimum. I cannot do character makeup in a corner behind a door.

Telling the guests everything in advance. If everyone knows exactly who is walking in, the entrance is dead. “Something is happening” is enough.

Requesting a character on the day. Every character needs a different costume and makeup, and I need at least a day.

Asking me to drop the character. It is like asking an actor to stop mid-monologue.

What I ask before I confirm

Which character you want. The first question, and it needs a day’s notice. If you have no preference, tell me about the guest of honour and I will suggest.

Whether there is a side room. Twenty minutes and a mirror. Without it I arrive ready from home, which limits the choice.

Whether it is a surprise and what the guests know. That decides how I build the entrance.

Who the guest of honour is and what he likes. Not politeness — it decides which character will work in that room.

What happens between booking and the door

After we agree you get the hour, the character’s name, a request for a side room, and one sentence worth telling the guests.

On the day I arrive twenty minutes before the agreed hour, which is unusual in the gallery and necessary for me. I message when I leave and when I am downstairs.

I come in dressed normally with the bag, disappear into the room, and come out already in character. From there I do not speak as myself until the end.

What is included and what is not

In the price: the show, the costume, the props, the makeup and travel within the metro area. No surcharge for the character, however complicated.

Not included: a speaker and lighting. And if you want a character I do not have, that is a month of work and priced separately, though I usually have something close enough.

Why I build my own characters rather than copying

Almost everyone who books asks whether I can come as a specific character from a film or a comic, so I will answer it here once.

The first reason is legal. Commercial characters belong to companies, and a paid service advertising them by name walks into territory nobody wants to be in. That is not theoretical — letters have been sent over it elsewhere, and I do not intend to hand that risk to whoever books me.

The second reason is better. When I build my own character I decide how she speaks, how she enters and what she does in the room. An exact copy forces me to be a pale version of something everyone has already seen, and in live performance that always loses.

In practice my characters sit in exactly those worlds — a comic-book villain, a fighter, an unhinged nurse — they are simply mine. Nobody has been disappointed yet, and several people said it came out better than what they asked for.

When somebody else suits you better

If you wanted a dance act rather than a character act, I am not the choice. I am an actor before I am a dancer, and it feels different.

I would suggest Lana Hoffman for real choreography, Yonit Dror for energy, or Dina Klein if you liked the character idea but want something retro and light.

Booking me

Name, hour, address, how many guests, and which character. With no preference, tell me about the guest of honour and I will suggest two.

Standard price, no character surcharge, no deposit. The whole gallery is here. A day ahead is my minimum, and for a special evening two is better.