by Laura Ferguson
Savanna Calton and Lucy Roche’s show is set in two halves, a naughty one and a naughtier one. The title of the show, These Two Women Open Their Mouths, What Happens Next Will Shock You, is certainly accurate in any case, and for that, I loved every second of it.
The set begins with Calton, Winner of the 2015 National Raw Quest, welcoming the audience and setting us all at ease, telling us where the bar and bathrooms are and to avail ourselves of those facilities whenever we please. This was a relieving start as I’m definitely someone who would rather have to go through the excruciating pain of my bladder bursting than disrupt someone’s flow, so I really appreciated this gesture. Having settled us in for a great night, Calton indulges the crowd with her material. Her delivery was fantastic, hitting the punchlines with brilliant timing and had us laughing from the get-go. Calton’s presence on stage is relaxed and her mannerisms effortless, there is no feeling of anything being contrived here. In fact, she uses the intimacy of the venue to her advantage, coming across as a hoodie-wearing Upper Hutt Side version of Sex and the City, giving us a girlfriends-reliving-their-scars-and-stories tone, her charm and wit being in abundance with pithy one-liners and great story-telling.
Calton has a unique brand of feminist existentialism through her work that I would love to see become an entire genre unto itself I enjoy it that much. It is a rare comic that can turn a back-handed compliment into something profound and then attach it to the swirling chaos of the human psyche. She is also very relatable, I found myself thinking, “I have a french fry friend like that” or “Yeah, poor [name redacted] suffers from resting bitchy face as well”. These personal connections made the show even funnier and I also want to commend Calton very highly for the way she manages to use her profanity to exaggerate and punctuate a joke. She manages to accentuate her lines with lewd language in ways that I found really delightful and surprising.
The second half was time for Lucy Roche to take the stage. Seeming delicate and twee, these assumptions about what Roche’s comedy is like couldn’t be more wrong. Everything Roche says is what I want my Twitter feed to be, just a constant stream of high-calibre wit dashed with liberality, feminism and a cheeky disregard for the sexual norms society puts upon us. There is not much in the way of typical sexual repertoire that Roche will not comment on. From blow jobs, to sex work and queefing, her comedy has a frankness about sexuality that I found very refreshing and right up my alley, or perhaps both of them as Roche would point out.
Roche is relentless in spearing societal taboos, putting them on her fork and eating the ass out of them. She is a master of the pun, some of which were so skilfully crafted they deserve to be embroidered on throw pillows, although you would have to hide them when your mum comes round. Myself and the audience highly enjoyed ourselves over the salacious nature of Roche’s comedy, there was much nudging of friends and poking. Whispered utterances of “That’s you!” were audible and giggles bubbled forth from these instances coupled with blushes that spoke to their truth. Roche’s work can be dark as well as sexually open, but she always spins it so we were laughing constantly with her brute honesty and clever turn of phrase.
Due to the nature of These Two Women Open Their Mouths, What Happens Next Will Shock You, I don’t want to give too much away. Yes, some of the material is shocking, but, more importantly, it’s hilariously shocking. I highly recommend not missing out on this opportunity to admire these two women in action and seeing that for yourself.
Savanna Calton and Lucy Roche’s show, These Two Women Open Their Mouths, What Happens Next Will Shock You, is on at 10pm at Cavern Club from the 11th – 14th of May. For ticket information, please see: https://www.iticket.co.nz/events/2016/apr/lucy-roche-and-savanna-calton
Please note: Lucy Roche will not be performing in the show on Saturday 14 May, as she is competing in the National Raw Comedy finals in Auckland. The show will instead feature a line-up of comedians including Matthew Ray O'Leary, Rhian Wood-Hill, Sera Devcich, Ben MacGougan & Savanna Calton rounding out the night.