‘Becoming Bette’ is a one-woman show by artist and performer Elizabeth Scales. Hailing from Brisbane, she brings her show to Melbourne for a pre-Fringe festival viewing. Held at the Butterfly Club across the weekend of the 10th and 11th of September, Scales’ viewing was a cozy and intimate one. The show is a semi-autobiographical story…
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During the recent 2016 Melbourne International Comedy festival, I picked a few acts I’d like to see and sent the list to my mates, in case they wanted to catch the same shows with me. Their reactions towards my choices ranged from dubious to dismissive: ‘So…your list has mostly female acts. Is that intentional?’ ‘Count…
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Chris Endrey is an involved artist of various worlds, all of which hope to engage people in their lives and society. Alongside Meg O’Connell he produced and hosted cult variety show In Canberra Tonight. As a musician he performs in various guises, notably with sex-pop band, Fun Machine. His writing has appeared in Crikey, Daily…
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Tonight at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne, ActionAid, a Sydney based international development organisation that empowers women who are living in poverty across the globe, is hosting Frocking Hilarious – an all-women comedy fundraiser. I spoke with ActionAid’s Media and Public Relations Officer Anna Fraser about the event and about the important work that ActionAid does for…
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From the first moment I entered the building, I knew that I was in for a memorable night. The entire venue—including the foyer—was luridly and gloriously adorned. Amongst the decor were several blow-up flamingos, lots of plastic cupcakes and miscellaneous neon-coloured props scattered everywhere. In the middle of the performance space sat a small tub…
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This is the final instalment of Period Pieces, upcoming Melbourne Fringe Festival comedian Loani Arman’s hilarious series on menstruation. You can look back over her pieces here. When I tell people I’m doing a stand up show called “PERIOD” for Melbourne Fringe, I’m usually met with a whole minute’s silence. There has been surprise,…
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If you’re keen on burlesque, circus, comedy, and vaudeville, then you’d probably enjoy heading along to Absinthe – now running in Sydney until October 25th. From the Las Vegas live entertainment production company Spigelworld, famous for Empire, Absinthe bursts onto the scene with a tantalising cast of talented performers. The evening begins with the Chair…
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However you feel about Amy Schumer’s comedy, it’s hard to deny that she is controversial. But, her ability to use comedy to bring feminism, as well as other current issues, to the forefront is provoking discussion. And that’s a win — not just for comedy, but for the feminist movement, as well. Women in comedy…
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Amy Schumer has responded to an open letter outlining the link between shootings and gendered violence, asking to Schumer to ‘be a voice for your generation and for women’. The letter follows the shooting at a screening of Schumer’s film Trainwreck in a Louisiana cinema that left two women dead. Schumer responded in a tweet:…
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New York City comedian Lynn Bixenspan has recently been hailed as ‘one of the funniest feminists on Twitter.’ Social media has become an increasingly huge landscape of posts and opinions by comedians, artists, and celebrities that try to claim a place with the internet audience. To stand out amidst this huge crowd is definitely an…
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The Sydney Comedy Store always offers up amazing acts. Whether they’re well-known comics or up and comers, I always end up having a ball and also a good few hearty, knee-slapping, clap-inducing laughs. With Urzila Carlson’s stand-up routine Poise Control, there was no exception, except, well, for the fact that it was completely different. Urzila’s…
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For two nights only, South African-Kiwi comedian Urzila Carlson is heading to Sydney to perform her new show, Poise Control. After a string of performances at the Adelaide Fringe and MICF, Carlson is kindly making the trip to Sydney-town. I caught up with Urzila and chatted to her about her accidental start as a comedian and…
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A children’s party for adults. What better way to evoke your inner child than by dressing up in glitter and flocculent wings! The Adult Fairy Party, a comical cabaret hosted at the The Butterfly Club in Melbourne, contrasts the stark reality of adulthood to childhood dreams and fantasies. By engaging the audience in an array…
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Let’s face it, we all want to relive the magical moments of our youth; the times when we thought we’d all grow up to be a fairy princess. Alas, real life comes crashing down and reality sets in faster than you can say ‘help, I don’t want to grow up!’ But what if you could…
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