LESBIHONEST
Ivy Bar & Cabaret, 63 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington
24/02/2023 - 04/03/2023
Production Details
Laura Piccinin
PITCHIN'IN PRODUCTIONS
LESBIHONEST in its formality, is a one-hour, one-woman comedic show following a journey of “coming outs”; relaying the unravelling and rebuilding of self-identity, alongside societal shifts towards LGBTQIA+ people.
In reality, this is a girl with a mic and a lifetime of stories to share. This show took 35 years to live, five to write, and an hour to perform. The show is a living piece of how they feel about their past in this very moment, on this day. Each show will be a new adventure, travelling through these moments as if living them in retrospect for the first time on stage.
Just come. It’ll be funny.
Ivy Bar & Cabaret, 63 Cuba Street, Te Aro
Friday 24 & Saturday 25 February 2023, 8pm
Friday 3 & Saturday 4 March 2023, 8pm
The Fringe Bar, 26-32 Allen Street, Te Aro
Wednesday 8 March, 8.30pm
Saturday 11 March, 10pm
Comedy , LGBTQIA+ , Spoken word , Theatre , Solo ,
1 hr, Fri & Sat only
Lives up to its honesty declaration with energy and humour
Review by Margaret Austin 25th Feb 2023
This show’s promotional line reads: “A hilarious autobiography of some gay girl from Canada”, and Laura Piccinin (Pitchin’in Productions) is our storyteller. She’s at the Ivy Bar. Being gay is not a new theme, and I’m wondering how Piccinin is going to regale the audience with enough freshness and novelty to keep us entertained for 60 minutes. I check with the man sitting next to me. He says he’s always happy to see a woman being herself.
And being herself is undeniably what we get. The combination of a Catholic upbringing with its latent absurdities plus a predictable divorce of her parents have probably proved an advantage. Despite not being allowed to whisper the word “gay” within the family, she eventually manages to come out. Various pride parades follow, as well as exasperation with the straight mantra, “Explain yourself.”
This new defiant note marks the rest of Piccinin’s tale, from questions about boobs, attitudes to men and whether being sexually assaulted has anything to do with being gay. “Why don’t we skip this whole thing?” she asks. Fed up with the reactions to coming out? “Oh, I’m so happy for you” to “Did you switch?”Lesbihonest lives up to its honesty declaration. Not a plea for sympathy, nor even understanding, it points the way to another mantra: “Be yourself”. It’s told with energy and humour and Piccinin’s performance is an apt contribution to the Ivy Bar’s reputation.
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