How does your show explore gender roles? Observing gender inconsistencies is fruitful if you just peek under the surface and ask ‘why?’ rather than accepting things the way they are. You very quickly find questions like, can men wear makeup? (Sure, but people will look at you funny.) Was it always this way? (Not always; Neanderthals, Egyptians and Elizabethans all wore makeup, and Elizabethans used to wear tights too!) Why is pink considered a feminine colour? (Answer: marketing.) Was it always? (No, it was actually considered a masculine colour as recently as the 1920s).
What makes the preposterous rules of gender roles so funny? I think you’ve answered your own question. It’s that they’re preposterous. I’m sure we can all pick at least one gender role that we’d like to change if we could. You could be the guy who likes having long hair, the woman who likes short hair, the man who has no interest in sport. These are all things that are simultaneously widely thought yet patently ridiculous. And there’s always humour in the stupidity of humans.
How can comedy teach us more about society? Well, good comedy discusses society. Like, why the hell do women have decorative pockets that look like pockets but don’t actually have pockets in them? Or, why can my mum refer to her friends as her ‘girlfriends’ but I would never call mine my ‘boyfriends’? That can be illuminating. And funny.
Venue: Trades Hall – The Quilt Room
Dates: Thursday March 30 – Sunday April 23 (bar Wednesdays)
Duration: 60 minutes
Tickets: $20 – $25
