• theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  • theatre
  • features
  • faqs
  • contact
  Art Murmurs - Wellington Reviews

Reviews

These Two Women Open Their Mouths, What Happens Next Will Shock You

14/5/2016

Comments

 

by Laura Ferguson

Picture
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.
Comments

    Local Honest Reviews

    At Art Murmurs, our aim is to provide honest and constructive art reviews to the Wellington community.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All
    All Age Appropriate
    Art
    BATS
    Beauty Standards
    Black Comedy
    Body Positive
    Circa
    Circus
    Comedy
    Comedy Festival 2018
    Comedy Festival 2019
    Comedy Gala 2022
    Community Theatre
    Dance
    Devised
    Documentary
    Drag
    Drama
    Emerging Artist
    Exhibition
    Experimental
    Female Artists
    Feminism
    Feminist
    Festival
    For Kids
    Fringe
    Fun
    Gallery
    Gryphon Theatre
    Hannah Playhouse
    Heart + Music
    History
    Improv
    Interactive
    International
    Interview
    Ivy
    Lighting
    Local
    Mental Health
    Monologue
    Music
    Musical
    New Writing
    New Zealand
    NZ Comedy
    NZ Fringe
    NZIF
    On Tour
    Performance Poetry
    Photography
    Photospace Gallery
    Physical Theatre
    Political
    Politics
    Premiere
    Pyramid Club
    Queer
    Race
    Roxy LIVE
    Science
    Scruffy Bunny Improv Theatre
    Sexual Violence
    Shakespeare
    Site Specific
    Site-specific
    Sketch
    Solo Show
    Song
    Spoken Word
    Stagecraft
    Storytelling
    Tahi Festival
    Te Auaha
    Theatre
    Thought Provoking
    Thought-provoking
    Thriller
    Toi Poneke Gallery
    Verbatim
    Victoria University
    Violence
    Virtual Theatre
    Weekly
    Wellington
    Wellington Footlights
    Wellington Repertory