Wer ya from? | Big Fork Theatre Improv In Colour
A collective of naturally funny people, who comprise the Big Fork Improv in Colour arm. As I understand it, Big Fork is doing what it can to really take access and inclusion seriously, offering scholarships and other initiatives, and this is the result. A gang of wildcards who draw on their heritage and culture to make a somewhat ludicrous sketch night that is as diverse as their preferred hashtags #KDrama #ChickenAdobo #SingaporeSling #CricketInColombo #MeghanMarkle
It is so refreshing to not see any white people on a stage. There I said it. That’s the point of this particular line-up and yay, I’m into it. I am a white people, and an all white line-up is super 2019. It’s SO NICE to see a whole line-up without any token whities. You know why though? It’s not just for the half-hearted box-ticking, it’s not because it makes anyone a better person, it’s because people’s self-owned intersections lead to unrealised amazing comedy. Because having a sense of humour requires you to hold two things up against each other, the humour happens when the contrast is ill-fitting. That’s what makes a joke, it’s knowing how language works and using it wrong, on purpose; to do that you have to know two languages. It’s knowing what’s appropriate and putting it out of context; it’s a classical painting with club talk captions; it’s an old cliché in a fresh context; it’s a mocking entendre for a new audience who gets the subtext; it’s a bloody beautiful thing when it’s done right. And who can do it better than the people who put the multi in multicultural, the first- second- and third-gen kids, scattered across Australia from all the corners of the world. Those who already know how uncomfortable Australia is, and how to pull a punchline out of it. And they can do it with ease. Without even punching down.
The Ron Hurly Theatre was packed out with a full house at 7.45 on a Sunday night. It’s the second to last show of the Brisbane Improv Festival. And clearly the festival has been a success, and this crew are popular, because this crowd is lively.
The show was fun, and stupid, and cheerful, and energetic. They pulled a random place out of the crowd as a starter and then got on with making a wild galumphing storyline that covered at least four continents, featured a one-sided yet decidedly passionate love affair, at least two highly illegal counselling sessions and a pile of anecdotes of modern life, and how this group of cool people negotiate the endless randomness of their families, their ambitions, their wider communities and their futures. All made up on the spot.
I didn’t know what was gonna happen, I haven’t been to anything like this before, it was fun, it was loose, it was cool. I didn’t feel weird once all night cause some bro made some sexist twat comedy shit comment. I laughed a lot and I felt right at home. Good vibes would recommend.
