The Tough Titties crew have done it again with delivering another ripper of a show. Presented by Queen Hades Productions, Tough Titties is an evening of variety intersectional feminist comedy, offering a safe space to vent, laugh and connect over shared experiences. It’s refreshing to see Sydney’s top comedians and performers coming together to turn the ‘feminist a-gender’ on its head and owning it on their terms.
There are loads of standouts in this jam-packed 90 minute show, all delivered with pathos, scathing wit and minimal profanity, making the humour bite but still accessible to a diverse audience. My personal favourite is ‘Cry-Aerobics’ by Luisa Galloway, offering a cathartic workout that transmutes years of suppressed rage into a physiologically-beneficial expression of blood, sweat and tears (where do I sign up?!). ‘Period Piece’ is literally a period piece about periods…just imagine the girls at Picnic at Hanging Rockbeing lost without a tampon in sight. Speaking of periods, the skit on Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) reminded us that mother nature is a cold heartless b!tch. As is Tina Noheart (parodying Gina Rhineheart) pontificating about ‘helping the poor’, with satire not far from the truth. The hilariously talented, Emma Sullivan, always splendid fun, performed a Chaplinesque ‘juggling act’, a term that oddly tends to apply to women rather than men (and why is that?)
Speaking of men, we saw the return segments of ‘a world without’ them, where women can speak freely without being interrupted and voice their concerns and be validated (hello Utopia!) Renae Valastro gave her version of the SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) manifesto declaring what men are ‘not allowed to do’. Her no-no list is not that unreasonable considering what men have been sanctioning against women for years (the right to vote, drive, earn equal pay, be assertive, show authentic emotions etc). I’d have to agree with her point 1,000% that men are not allowed to complain, certainly not when they complain about everything including ‘women complaining’!
More manifesto please. Cannot wait for the next show.
Tough Titties features a rotating roster of talent across the season including: MONICA KUMAR, LAURA LEES, SOPHIE DOUGLAS, EMMA THROSSELL, SOPHEA OP, SAM WALSH, CONSTANCE HALSTEAD, ALMITRA MAVALVALA, LINDA CHONG, FRANKIE FEARCE, ELIVA, LUISA GALLOWAY, EMMA O’SULLIVAN, KRISTELLE ZIBARA, RENAE VALASTRO.
You can read our review of previous Tough Titties shows here.
Tough Titties is on at Meraki Arts Bar Main Stage till July 15th.