What Melbourne Loved in 2018, part 4

It's more trickle than flood this year. Here's the form; tell us about those theatre and art moments in 2018 that made you happy.

Today, we keep celebrating independent makers and companies, and celebrate all those challenges to boring assumptions made about art, makers and audiences.

Sonya Suares
Artistic Director, Watch This

Sonya Suares in Contest. 
(I was a GS in my primary school church team; I wasn't good.)

Favourite moments in 2018
Both of mine were sitting in the Beckett Theatre this year: tears running down my face as Dalara Williams performed the inciting monologue in Blackie Blackie Brown and nearly wetting myself moments later, just as I did during Michelle Lee’s Going Down.

If I am permitted a moment that is not simply as an disinterested audient, then I must say truthfully watching Nadine Garner nail "Send in the Clowns" at every performance of A Little Night Music during the run was one of the highlights of my year. I mean, Every. Single. Time.

Looking forward to in 2019
I'm looking forward to sending everyone I know to the return season Blackie Blackie Brown and, because I'm a big boffin/child-of-the-90s, to seeing Shakespeare in Love. Or you know, being in it if Simon Phillips decides to give me a spin!

And personally, I'm looking forward to performing Fleur Kilpatrick's Max Afford award-winning play Whale with a group of incredible womens. It's gonna be a ripper.

SM: Sonya is the driving force behind Watch This. Putting on musicals is expensive and difficult. Putting on Sondheim musicals multiplies the difficulty considerably. Watch This do it, anyway.  Without Watch This, we would see far less Sondheim in Melbourne. Without them we wouldn't see some some of out best performers in Sondheim musicals. If I had a magic funding wand, Watch This would get the money they need to become an ongoing professional company. As for my favourite moment with Sonya this year, it's her moving and powerful performance in Contest by Emilie Collyer.

Vidya Makan & Nick Simpson-Deeks in next year's Watch This show.
Co-directed by Sonya with Dean Drieberg.
Sondheim fans don’t need a title.

Mama Alto
Jazz singer, cabaret artiste and gender transcendent diva

Mama Also. Photo by Alexis Desaulniers-Lea

Favourite moments in 2018
Mojo Juju's "Native Tongue". One of the most important new Australian works right now and, I suspect, for many years to come. Revelatory, extraordinary, damning, tender, groundbreaking, truth telling and part of a highly necessary reckoning of the national identity.

Honourable mentions. Willow Sizer's theatrical cabaret Death of a Demi Diva was a revelation. She gave a tour-de-force performance that set the hairs on the back of my neck on edge. Paul Capsis as Quentin Crisp in Resident Alien (return season). Magnificent, eccentric, and in many ways so close to home for all of our inner anxieties, foibles and paranoias.

Honourable mentions for things I saw interstate (naughty, I know). The View Upstairs (Hayes Theatre, Sydney) and An Evening with Constantina Bush (Spirit Festival, Adelaide).

Looking forward to in 2019
I'm eagerly keeping my eye on new works and projects from leading thinkers, powerful performers and those who speak back to imbalance. Anything and everything from Candy Bowers, Jean Tong, and Yana Alana. Midsumma 2019's theatre, cabaret and burlesque offerings look extraordinary. And, as always, I anticipate with relish the as yet unannounced surprises that will pop up underground in salons, dens, cabarets and dives across Melbourne. What delights await us at Hares & Hyenas, The Butterfly Club, The Melba Spiegeltent, and where else?

SM: Every moment with Mama Also is the best. She's exquisite. I think my favourite moment was sending interstate friends along to a show she was performing at. When they got back, all they could do was tell about this amazing performer called Mama Alto.

Booking my ticket for The Seventh Annual Mama Alto Holiday Special now. Join us.

Chris Wenn
Noise maker and overthinker

Chris Wenn. Photo by Ezekiel Rodofili

Favourite moments in 2018
There's no single moment that excited me quite as much as the feeling that we've reached a tipping point of invention and fertility within the independent sector . There was such an incredible amount and range of work presented by independent artists and companies in 2019. There was tremendous work to see from new, emerging,and established creators, and from sectors of our community that have gone unrecognised for too long. In the world outside of the major performing arts companies, we have had to build a level of resilience and self-sufficiency that can stand against the inconstancy of grant schemes. The Brandis 'reforms' and Fifield 'restoration' have only proved that we are, and always will be, a target for cuts and culture war. I am immensely proud of the way our community supports each other: through fundraising, crowdfunding, donations of time and material and effort, and a myriad other ways. Can't stop, won't stop.

Looking forward to in 2019
I'm looking forward to more work! More work by and for children and young people, more work by and for Indigenous people, more work by and for queer and non-binary people, more work by and for migrants and non-English speaking audiences. I want to see more work that challenges conventions and assumptions and what it means to make and witness art. I want to see work that reflects the strength and diversity of this global city, that engages audiences in new ways, that deploys technology and creativity in new spaces and old.

SM: Sound designers are such an important part of a design team and we don't talk about them any where near enough. Next year, I will listen to shows more. Chris was part of an amazing design team for Colder at Red Stitch. I mentioned the stage and the lighting designer and not Chris – but as I think back on the show, I can still hear it.

What Melbourne Loved in 2017, part 7

"Let's do this! Let's be ambitious in everything we do!",  Joseph O'Farrell (Jof)

Let's all listen to Jof.

Eugyeene Teh
Designer

Eugyeene Teh. There aren't enough words to describe how much I love this photo.

Favourite moments in 2017
Melbourne theatre is very quickly being redefined by culturally diverse works, primarily from the independent sector. 2017 saw a major shift in how the theatre community and its audience perceive theatre that is not white. The effect of this has been exponential – inclusivity of artists and audience, being able to have dialogues about contemporary ideas with the previously muted others, and mutual respect and understanding in an effort to achieve equality and camaraderie across various intersectional communities. Suddenly, these works have weight, urgency and value. It’s about time, and it’s all very sexy!

Many of Melbourne’s strongest theatre in 2017 have come from bold diverse voices, including;

Romeo is Not the Only Fruit, a lesbian musical satire written and directed by Jean Tong, with predominantly Asian cast and creatives mostly from DisColourNation. Besides the fact that they opened on the night that Australia voted ‘Yes’ to marriage equality, this team defied common perception that great theatre can only be created by white-male-led teams.

In Between Two at Melbourne Festival, which allowed two Asian-Australian hip-hop artists, Joel Ma and James Mangohig to tell their stories and derive great empathy from a Melbourne Festival audience, simply by being beautiful humans.

Exquisite: An Evening with Mama Alto, which was exactly what it says on the tin. Her vocal prowess is only surpassed by her strong, poised resounding voice that fearlessly leads the way for intersectional communities of queer people of colour, among countless others. A role model who needs to be taken seriously by us all.

Under Siege at Melbourne Festival, created by Yang Liping with designer Tim Yip, is a spectacular exhibition of the historic battle Gaixia, with a focus on warlord Xiang Yu’s heartbreaking relationship with his concubine, Yu Ji, an elegant Chinese boy.

Merciless Gods allowed us to plunge headlong into the heady worlds of the perceived ‘others,’ redefining the term ‘Australian,’ challenging white values and honouring those of the shunned. It shows us that beauty lies in the souls of everyone, regardless of race, gender or their beliefs.

Asia TOPA, Stephen Armstrong’s new festival which reminded us that Asian culture is beautiful, intelligent, diverse and powerful.

Looking forward to in 2018
In 2018, I am excited about to Jean Tong’s Hungry Ghosts, directed by Petra Kalive with Emina Ashman, Jing-Xuan Chan and Bernard Sam; Michele Lee’s Going Down with Catherine Davies, Josh Price, Naomi Rukavina and Jenny Wu; Little Ones Theatre’s The Nightingale and the Rose directed by Stephen Nicolazzo with Jennifer Vuletic, Brigid Gallacher and Yuchen Wang; and The House of Bernada Alba by Patricia Cornelius, directed by Leticia Cáceres with Peta Brady, Julie Forsythe, Bessie Holland, Melita Jurisic and Candy Bowers, Candy Bowers, Candy Bowers!!!

SM: Every design of Eugyeene's is my favourite. Highlights of this year include creating a proscenium arch in La Mama in The Happy Prince, the amazing moss green of The Moors at Red Stitch, and the stage stabbing into the darkness of Merciless Gods.


Isabel Angus
Comedian, writer, performer

Isabel Angus

Favourite moments in 2017
Probably watching three bums talking into microphones in Wild Bore at the Mathouse Theatre.

Looking forward to in 2018
Having less FOMO by actually going to more theatre shows all year round - because there is actually always something on and more people should go! Also, delving deep into MICF 2018.

SM: I missed Isabel's kids show at Fringe,  so it's her being one of the wonderful team who created Do Not Collect $200. I look forward to a new show from her soon.


Joseph O’Farrell (JOF) and Sam Halmarack
Community development artists
Their new show, We are Lightning!, premieres at Arts House in December

Joseph O’Farrell (JOF) & Sam Halmarack. Photo by Sam McGlip

Favourite moments in 2017
JOF:  I was lucky enough to see Elbow Room's Niche at Northcote Town Hall on my first day back in Melbourne. To see an ambitious work of scale by an independent theatre company was REALLY exciting and inspiring.

I was also lucky to tour with Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey to UK and EU this year where I saw them open their work 5 Short Blasts in two different cities on the same weekend.

Let’s do this! Let’s be ambitious in everything we do!

SH: We recently saw Cracker La Touf play. They’re a young band that we first worked with as part of our new show’s development in 2016. To watch them play and be complete rock stars blew me away!

Looking forward to in 2018
JOF: Next Wave. I LOVE this festival and its approach to a more inclusive and progressive arts sector. Can’t wait to see what the team have been working on.

SH: I am from London, so I’ll leave town after the show and not sure when I’ll be back, which is a really sad realisation. I love this city.

I’m really looking forward to touring We Are Lightning! to Mayfest in Bristol. It’s one of my favourite festivals and I can’t wait to share this crazy show with the city

SM: I didn't see JOF or Sam perform this year, but Sam's last show in Melbourne was one of my favourite moments from 2014, and the last Suitcase Royale show I saw JOF in, Zombatland, won my Favourite Comedy in 2012. So, I'm totally looking forward to We Are Lightening!.

part 6
part 5
part 4
part 3
part 2
part 1
2016
2014
2013
2012

What Melbourne loved in 2016, part 15

All that's left is me. Tomorrow I'll publish my 2016 list of the shows I loved, but it's time for some moments.

This year marked 10 years of me reviewing. I had a month off to breathe.

I only saw 165 (or 20+ more if I count events with multiple performances) shows this year. There were also less reviews but a lot more tweets. And I was teaching arts journalism; meeting and reading young writers who want to write about the arts is as good as it gets. It's been a shitty year for arts writers, but there are plenty of voices who are going to be there and demand that they are heard. And I love teaching.

Selfie. Not giving a single fuck in Ubud in November.

Plus a special thanks to Faster Pussycat Productions for the new logo.

SM's favourite moments in Melbourne theatre in 2016: Having this series welcomed back after a year off was awesome. Getting the emails and messages and talking to people about it IRL reminded me that we are a strong and active community.

Like so many others, I was a bit over it this year: funding cuts, Fairfax cuts, creative and writing tertiary courses being branded "lifestyle choices", far too many people still excluded from having a voice on main stages, boring conservative mainstage programs, and criticism of that dullness being ignored. The arguments I began to have in the 1980s are still happening; it's fucking depressing.

Then in the last couple of weeks I saw:

• Blaque Showgirls at Malthouse. An Indigenous fuck you to every condescending, well-meaning and earnest statement about acceptance and respect. Laughed until I cried.
• Burning Doors by Belarus Free Theatre at Arts Centre Melbourne. Some people are using theatre to save lives and change their world. Some people risk so much more than a couple of dull hours to go to the theatre.
• Hot Brown Honey at Arts Centre Melbourne. Standing screaming ovation for rejecting everything that denies women and especially women of colour a voice. 
• Briefs at Arts Centre Melbourne. The other side of the Hot Brown Honey coin. What this show said about gender and masculinity needs to be bottled and drunk by everyone who tells someone to "man up".

Maybe there's a lot of hope for our main stages in 2017.

And throw in Moira Finucane telling a room of cheering people that "Art does change culture and it does change lives", at a fundraiser where Finucane and Smith raised enough money to create the kind of art that does change lives.

Going to Coranderrk to see Coranderrk and hearing the voices that spoke there 135 years ago.

Being totally relaxed lying in bath in the Embiggen Books window for Between Two Lines at Melbourne Fringe (Anna Nalpantidis with Elizabeth Brennan).

Coranderrk at Coranderrk

Between Two  Lines

iOTA singing "Life on Mars" at the Melbourne Festival Bowie concert.

Watching children cut Cameron Woodhead's hair at Haircuts by Children at Melbourne Festival.

Cameron Woodhead at Haircuts by Kids

Having no idea what was funny at Two Dogs at the Melbourne Festival.

The moment when Joshua Ladgrove decided that Neal Portenza couldn't do his scripted show when there were only nine people in the audience and The Age reviewer was in the front row. 

Watching a stage of naked women dancing in Nic Green's Trilogy at Arts House.

The Harry Potter and the Cursed Child reading that wasn't a reading because it was just a group of friends hanging out and reading out loud. (Thanks Ben McKenzie.)

Getting a bag of "FUCK YOU" candy hearts at Dion in the Melbourne Fringe.

Dion

The best way to read a play

The whole audience breathing in together when the black world became white, and again when the white world dropped to reveal Hamer Hall in Back to Back's Lady Eats Apple at Melbourne Festival.

Dancing in an industrial fridge in a hotel dressing gown as Otto and Astrid sang "Ich Bin Nicht Ein Roboter" at the Finucane and Smith Christmas Cocktail party.

Otto and Astrid

Robbing a bank with Richard Watts and Fleur Kilpatrick at Pop up Playground's Small Time Criminals.

Fleur Kilpatrick, me, Kevin Turner, Richard Watts at Small Time Criminals

Running late to see Pound It, walking down the stairs and wondering who that amazing voice could be coming out of – then seeing Bridget Everett and knowing that I was going to love every second of her show.

Every tweet from Candy Bowers.

Hanging out in Ai Weiwei's cat room for kids at the National Gallery of Victoria at 6.30 am during White Night.

Ai Weiwei's cats at NGV

What SM is looking forward to in 2017: Whatever it brings, everything else that everyone else has said, and The Book of Mormon.

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part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10
part 11
part 12
part 13
part 14
2014
2013
2012

Review: Lilith, The Jungle Girl

Lilith: The Jungle Girl
Neon Next and Sisters Grimm
3 September 2016
The Lawler
to 1 October
mtc.com.au

Candy Bowers, Genevieve Giuffre in Lilith: The Jungle Girl. Photo by Jeff Busby

My review is in The Age/SMH.

Ash Flanders in Lilith: The Jungle Girl. Photo by Jeff Busby

Review & PS: Straight White Men

TheStraight White Men
MTC
12 May 2016
Fairfax Studio
to 18 June
mtc.com.au

Straight White Men. John Gaden and Hamish Michael. Photo by Jeff Busby

There's a PS after the clip.

"What would you be willing to give up to make a difference in the world?"

Young Jean Lee wrote Straight White Men because a three-act naturalistic play about straight white men was the last thing the Korean-American, New York–based, avant-garde playwright and theatre maker wanted to write.

The result is an extraordinary exploration of privilege that starts with four men who are so self aware of their privilege that they question their own self awareness of their privilege.

The "last show" motivation has been a relative constant in Lee's work. In 2012, the Melbourne Festival brought us her We're All Going to Die, in which the non-singer, inexperienced performer fronted a band in a cabaret show about personal loss and death. She had the audience clapping along in a crying and smiling mess as we sang "We're all gonna die". Last year's festival screened a filmed performance of her work The Shipment about being black in the USA, in which some audience members huffed out of the cinema without trying to understand why some of us were laughing so much that it hurt.

In Straight White Men, brothers Jake (Luke Ryan) and Drew (Hamish Michael) are back home for Christmas with their older brother Matt (Gareth Reeves) and dad, Ed, (John Gaden). Their mum is dead, but her presence remains in the likes of Monopoly game re-made as Privilege – donate $50 to the local gay and lesbian support group.

Jake knows that his success at work is because he's a SWM, Matt insists he's happy being a temp at community centre because he's useful, and Drew knows how much therapy and talking have helped him. They sing satirical racist show tunes, want to wear Christmas eve pjs, and stop to ask the brother who's crying if he's sick, hurt or wants to talk.

What lovely men.

So why is their behaviour so funny?

They are what so many people say they/we want our straight white men to be. Yet when we're given men like that, we laugh at them.

Director Sarah Giles, designer Eugyeene Teh – who includes touches like the home-made clay phallic sculpture and Jake's full-compression running clothes coordinated with multi-pocketted running shorts – and the cast nail Lee's tone. The best satire is played as straight as it can be, without any self-aware winks to the audience.

Those winks are left to the glorious Candy Bowers, who welcomes the audience as a DJ – listen to what she plays – and is the woman of colour who watches and tweaks the men's world. Her constant presence reminds us that it's not about the men on stage; it's about everything that they are expected to be and about every one who laughs when they are not what we expect.

Like the playwright, she reminds us that we should be laughing at this world because we're part of it. We laugh because maybe we should feel as conflicted as they do when they're faced with giving up anything to help smash the system that has given them so much.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.au.

Have a listen to Candy Bowers and Hamish Michael talking to Richard Watts on RRR Smart Arts. They start about 1:40. 

PS

I've read the tweets and the reviews about the plot and I don't understand why so many people can't see what this play is about.

It's not about straight white men.

If David Williamson wrote a piece called Queer Coloured Women, would anyone think it was really about queer coloured women?

Yet when a woman of colour writes a show called Straight White Men, so many people assume she's written a play about SWM. They don't see the very obvious clues on the stage – or even ask the even more obvious questions.

Excuse me while I attempt to mansplain.

The plot – the one that doesn't tie up nicely or feel quite right – is a complicated and genius joke. It's satirising the three-act psychoanalytic American plays, which tend to be about SWM.

The characters are part of the satire; they'd bleed irony if they were cut open.

When straight white men (or any variation of) write queer coloured women (or any variation of), the characters/situations/resolutions don't always feel real. At the extremes there's the black maid with a heart of gold (who isn't far from the noble savage), the Asian stranger who offers spiritual advice, the sassy gay best friend, the woman who sacrifices everything for her man.

We see these characters all the time. We hate them.

They are idealised and too perfect, or drawn from ignorance and not bothering to understand, or too afraid to show fault. They are "other".

Young Jean Lee wrote her straight white men like this.

They are idealised. They care about their Christmas tree, they ask each other about their feelings, they wear clothes that match. They may pretend to be SWM, but they aren't like any SWM I know.

She's written SWM as ridiculously as SWM write QCW.

Maybe it's hard to notice the huge cock on the mantle piece, but it's impossible to miss that a queer black woman welcomes you to the theatre, watches the show, interacts with the performers, and controls the scene changes. How are so many people missing that this is HER world? It's her perspective. She's in charge. She has the authority.

Is this idea that a QCW is in control of the SWM so out of the understanding of our theatre conventions that even when it's obvious, it's rejected?

Review: But wait ... there's more

But wait ... there's more
Circus Oz
19 June 2014
Circus Oz Big Top, Birrarung Marr
to 13 July, then touring
circusoz.com

It's impossible not to love a night in the heated Circus Oz tent, and if seeing them in winter in Melbourne with a bag of hot doughnuts isn't a tradition for your family and friends, start it now.

The Melbourne-based, world-adored company have a new permanent home in Collingwood and But wait ... there's more is the first show created in the space.

With the ever-lovely hip-hopping Candy Bowers as MC, this year's mob are a mix of new and old(er) faces who all start with their own skills, bring new twists to some favourite tricks and ensure that expectations and assumptions about the likes of gender, attitude, background and ability are always challenged.

And remember that there never has and never will be any non-human animals in a Circus Oz show. But there's always a live band.

Founding member and costume designer Laurel Frank has created barcode costumes for the clowning, and with velvet, tartan and sequins, every vaudeville-inspired costume is an extension of the performer's personality.

So with positive politics and love to share, the show's about how we want stuff that we don't need, how we want to be things (like rich and thin) that we're not, and how we judge without seeing the whole picture.

As it's the first time out for But wait ... there's more, it's still a bit raw but nothing can take away from the passion that's created Circus Oz shows for the last 36 years and will hopefully continue to do so until we're not around to see them.

This was on AussieTheatre.com.

What I loved 2012: the best of Melbourne theatre

Now that 33 of Melbourne's creators have shared their favourite moments, shows and artists of 2012, it's time for the annual What I Loved awards.

It was a tough choice this year, especially in writing and performance. The short lists were far too long to publish and many wonderful moments didn't make the finals.  But it comes down to my strict criteria: How much did I love it?

With a few exceptions, most of the Loves have already been raved about by the 32 other creators. I smiled a lot every time one was mentioned. It's pretty great to know that these artists really are reaching the hearts of their audiences and sharing something memorable.

The Loves still don't have a statuette or show bag for the nominees, but maybe one day... (In the meantime, if anyone wants to design a certificate, I'm sure the winners would print it and put it on their fridge until it disappears under takeaway menus.)

You can also see these on AussieTheatre.com with a different discussion.

Outstanding Artists 2012

WRITING

Louris Van De Geer: Tuesday, MKA

and

Robert Reid: On the production of monsters, Melbourne Theatre Company
and 
Zoey Dawson: The unspoken word is "Joe", MKA, La Mama

The unspoken word is 'Joe'. Photo by Sarah Walker.

DESIGN

Eugyeene Teh: Tuesday, MKA; sex.violence.blood.gore, MKA; Triangle, MKA; 
The unspoken word is "Joe", MKA
and
Anna Tregloan and Paul Jackson: Wild Surmise, Malthouse Theatre

sex.violence.blood.gore Photo by Sarah Walker

PERFORMANCE

Dana Miltins: Orlando, The Rabble, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Festival
(and Golden Dragon, MTC)

Special mention
Nilaja Sun: No Child, Theatre Works, Brisbane Festival, Melbourne Festival
and
Brigid Gallacher: The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of  Romeo and Juliet

Dana Miltins in Orlando. Photo by Sarah Walker

DIRECTION

Suzanne Chaundy: Beyond the Neck: A Quartet on Loss and Violence, Red Stitch
and 
Stephen Nicolazzo: sex.violence.blood.gore, MKA

Beyond the Neck: A Quartet on Loss and Violence

EVERYTHING THEY DO ROCKS

Daniel Clarke
The Creative Producer of Theatre Works (to be shared with everyone at Theatre Works) for making Theatre Works a venue that we want to go to, for creating a community of artistic experimentation and discussion, and for increasing audiences by an amazing 71%. I missed too many shows at Theatre Works this year, but that'll change in 2013.

Produced/Co-Produced by Theatre Works
No Child
Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert
This is a door
Hello, my name is
The Year of Magical Wanking
Negative Energy
Mother/Son

Dan also directed Golden Dragon, Melbourne Theatre Company

and

Declan Greene
Summertime in the Garden of Eden, Sisters Grimm
The unspoken word is "Joe", MKA, La Mama
Pompeii L.A.,Malthouse Theatre

Pompeii L.A. Photo by Pia Johnson

Outstanding Productions 2012

CABARET

Candy B, Australian Booty: The Fatty-Boom-Boom Remix

Candy B

COMMERCIAL SHOW

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, MTC presents the Belvoir production

MUSICAL

Margaret Fulton: Queen of the Dessert, Present Tense,Theatre Works

Special mention
Contact!, Arts Centre Melbourne

COMEDY

Zombatland, Arts House, The Suitcase Royale

Special mention

The Goodbye Guy, Justin Hamilton

Zombatland

MUSIC

Field Recordings  and Music for Airports

Bang on a Can All-Stars, Melbourne Recital Centre

Bang on a Can All-stars

DANCE

Weather, Lucy Guerin Inc, Melbourne Festival

CIRCUS

From the ground up, Circus Oz

BEST OF THE BEST

The Wild Duck, Malthouse presents a Belvoir production

Summertime in the Garden of Eden, Sisters Grimm

Summertime in the Garden of Eden

Lipsynch, Arts Centre Melbourne, Ex Machnia, Théâtre Sans Frontières

Choir Girl, Sarah Collins, Celeste Cody and the choir

MY FAVOURITE SHOW OF 2012

100% Melbourne, Rimini Protokoll & The City of Melbourne

my just home from the show reaction

My favourite moments are here, which are different from my favourite shows and artists.

2011 Loves

2010 Loves

2009 Loves

2008 Loves
2007 quickies

MICF review: Candy B

MICF 2012
Candy B, Australian Booty: The Fatty-Boom-Boom Remix
11 April 2012
Red Bennies
to 15 April
comedyfestival.com.au

Attendance at a Candy B's Australian Booty: The Fatty-Boom-Boom Remix show should be compulsory, as it's impossible to leave without feeling damn hot and wanting to shake your booty all over town.

Ok, so the chances of me shaking my booty are slim (I am an uptight white chick who can't dance and knows that she can never say "You go girl"), but that's the only thing about me that has ever been slim and I'm standing with Candy and her gorgeous musical director and sister Busty Beatz to reclaim the sexiness of fatty boom boom.

From the moment Candy struts onto the stage in her "sexy-arse, body-hugging red dress", she own the room and the hearts of everyone in the audience – and most of their libidos.

Starting with a story about buying the dress, this show's about owning and loving who and what you are, and refusing to wear ridiculous floral tents. Being "Blasian" (she's from Dandenong with a South African, Chinese and Malaysian background), she's also faced racial crap and lets us delight in her shaming those who delivered it, and there's a wonderful bit about various communities trying to claim her when she first gained media attention.

Candy and I have many things in common – I also fancy gingers, wear clothes that emphasise my breasts and dream about endless dessert buffets – but I didn't grow up listening to the angry politics of Hip Hop and the casual misogyny of rap.  My teen music was Rick Astley, Split Enz and The Human League and that the first political song I bought was "Do They Know It's Christmas". Candy B is Hip Hop and, for us who still don't know that "phat" is cool, she translates some Snoop Dog lyrics. Yep, there's plenty of room for change in some of those attitudes and it's amazing folk like Candy B, Busty Beatz and the Massive Hip Hop Choir (who opened the night) who are leading the way and reclaiming the phat beatz as their own. 

Candy B is drop-dead gorgeous, jaw-aching funny and proves that we can and will remix attitudes.  The only way the night could be better is if there were a koeksister stall downstairs. (It's a South African doughnut deep fried and served in syrup.)

PS: As a 70s child, I had a black Barbie. She was generic not-Barbie who still had long straight hair, and I love that it never occurred to me that she should date my golliwog. 

This appeared on AussieTheatre.com