2012 Melbourne International Comedy Festival:
• Jan Maree in Fever Bitch!
Posted on 05 April 2012
Before her show Jan Maree actually apologised to me, because she was afraid I might find it a little blue. She had recently been asked to tone down her material for a different event in order to make it more likeable. Eek!
Fever Bitch! is a romp. Yes, it is blue, but yes it is also exceptionally likeable. It’s also very honest.
Women’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences aren’t well represented in the media. You might argue that perhaps daytime television helps fill that hole. Yet, even when the subject matter of a tv series focuses on women, it is only a narrow type of womanhood. We see the girly girls, the polished executive sorts, and mothers. All those sorts of females culture at large has agreed are acceptable. But there is so much more.
No woman is going to be in her twenties all her life. Jan Maree shares what it’s like to be dating in her thirties. Few if any women are going to have prince charming find them and sweep them off their feet. So what’s it like coping with your own humanity and the humanity of the guys with whom you are trying to scratch a few itches?
Part of why I love comedy is that it opens up the world. We see so much more of what it’s like to be a human being. We learn so much more truth about what it’s like to travel our paths from cradle to grave. And this is comforting. We are all just doing our best and muddling through.
Jan’s material is good-natured smut with a few cheese toasties thrown in to sweeten the deal. You laugh because it’s a little naughty, but you also laugh because you recognise yourself, whether you are male or female. We all do and feel this stuff. It’s proof positive that we are all human beings, not stereotypes.
Jan Maree is an accomplished performer and Fever Bitch! is a lot of fun.
Peace and kindness,
Katherine
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2012/season/shows/fever-bitch-jan-maree/
Responses are closed for this post.