by Laura Ferguson
Saran Goldie-Anderson and Anya Rzhevitskaya start Saranya Asks: Still A Fuckwit?, in their own words, ‘as awkwardly as possible’. With their show billed to be dark, strange and irreverent, the opening seems appropriate. Goldie-Anderson and Rzhevitskaya have styled this show to be a sequel to their 2016 piece How Not To Be A Fuckwit. Being a fan of the salacious details I get reading agony aunt pages, I was very much looking forward to this show.
Though, while the agony aunt premise may have created the title and the general theme of the show, that appears to be where it ends. This makes an easy platform for Goldie-Anderson and Rzhevitskaya to perform their stand-up. They are both charming individuals and we are easily laughing at their stories and anecdotes. I find myself loving the musical numbers that Goldie-Anderson strums, starting with a theme song for Still a Fuckwit? and continuing onto songs about anxiety, ads for New Zealand musical tourism, and reimagining’s of an anthem or two.
Goldie-Anderson and Rzhevitskaya have great chemistry on stage and play off of each other well, Goldie-Anderson genuinely laughing at Rzhevitskaya’s bolshie comedy style. Rzhevitskaya’s ideas of revenge were hilarious and her take on the Christian faith was brilliant. No wonder Goldie-Anderson nearly choked on their cider halfway through.
The duo heads into murky areas, bringing up date-rape, drug use, and sexual harassment. However, I found that they stayed on the edges of murky, I would have loved to go further into the quagmire with them, slurping and sucking our way through dangerous territory. For example, Rzhevitskaya begins to discuss abortion. A risky topic, for sure. I was looking forward to a big, gloopy, mother-loaded money-shot. Instead what I got was pfft, sawdust. As many of us can attribute, it was disappointing.
Even if I didn’t gasp as much as I wanted, I still laughed a tonne at Still A Fuckwit? It was fun, had some great music and their stories about their trials and tribulations had me laughing heartily. So if you or anyone you know has even a modicum of fuckwittery about them - this is the show for you.
Saranya Asks: Still a Fuckwit? is playing at Cavern Club from the 16th – 20th of May. You can find tickets here.
Please note: This review has undergone amendments post-publishing to correct misspellings of the performers' names. We apologise for the errors.
Though, while the agony aunt premise may have created the title and the general theme of the show, that appears to be where it ends. This makes an easy platform for Goldie-Anderson and Rzhevitskaya to perform their stand-up. They are both charming individuals and we are easily laughing at their stories and anecdotes. I find myself loving the musical numbers that Goldie-Anderson strums, starting with a theme song for Still a Fuckwit? and continuing onto songs about anxiety, ads for New Zealand musical tourism, and reimagining’s of an anthem or two.
Goldie-Anderson and Rzhevitskaya have great chemistry on stage and play off of each other well, Goldie-Anderson genuinely laughing at Rzhevitskaya’s bolshie comedy style. Rzhevitskaya’s ideas of revenge were hilarious and her take on the Christian faith was brilliant. No wonder Goldie-Anderson nearly choked on their cider halfway through.
The duo heads into murky areas, bringing up date-rape, drug use, and sexual harassment. However, I found that they stayed on the edges of murky, I would have loved to go further into the quagmire with them, slurping and sucking our way through dangerous territory. For example, Rzhevitskaya begins to discuss abortion. A risky topic, for sure. I was looking forward to a big, gloopy, mother-loaded money-shot. Instead what I got was pfft, sawdust. As many of us can attribute, it was disappointing.
Even if I didn’t gasp as much as I wanted, I still laughed a tonne at Still A Fuckwit? It was fun, had some great music and their stories about their trials and tribulations had me laughing heartily. So if you or anyone you know has even a modicum of fuckwittery about them - this is the show for you.
Saranya Asks: Still a Fuckwit? is playing at Cavern Club from the 16th – 20th of May. You can find tickets here.
Please note: This review has undergone amendments post-publishing to correct misspellings of the performers' names. We apologise for the errors.