Julz Burgisser WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS DRESS?
Cavern Club, 22 Allen St, Te Aro, Wellington
02/05/2018 - 04/05/2018
Production Details
Julz is 35 years old, divorced and riddled with baggage. Some taking up more room in the closet than others. Yet somehow, despite being convinced that cupid hates her, she still has hope… and that damn amazing wedding dress.
So get the girls together, single, married or divorced, and get ready for a glamorous night of singing and laughter as Julz mixes parody songs with hilarious stories of finding herself again. Help her to answer once and for all What Do I Do With This Dress?
“Cheeky, enthusiastic smiles and playful banter… fun and flirty” – Art Murmurs
TICKET PRICES
Full Price: $18
Concession: $15
Cheap Wednesday: $14
*service fee may apply
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Wheelchair accessible on request; Occasional bad language; Adult themes: R18
Theatre , Solo , Musical ,
50 minutes (Wed & Fri only)
Surprising turn around saves it from self-indulgence
Review by Margaret Austin 03rd May 2018
It’s a wedding dress that Julz Burgisser is talking about on her opening night at the Cavern Bar. She’s wearing hers, and she invites us to help her find an answer to the question of her show’s title.
A proto millennial, Burgisser is a 35-year-old divorcee and she’s intent on telling us how this situation came about. We’re not sure what kind of journey we’ll be taken on, but perhaps an indication is given by the introductory name calling of her ex-husband. We can’t be sure he deserves this, as we’re getting only one side of the story.
She made the marriage proposal if we’re to believe her version of events. Is this one of the products of feminism and the millennial way of doing things? And could she expect anything other than the apparently nonchalant acceptance of it by the man who consented to become her husband?
Questions of propriety and good manners are to recur to me throughout Burgisser’s monologue.
She essays therapy and is advised to try and find some humour in her situation. She does. We are treated to a joke of black humour that has most of the audience laughing.
There are four songs interspersed through the performance. They’re clever parodies and largely bear out the general theme of self-justification in the face of a situation she surely wasn’t responsible for.
Theatre is about getting people to think and to feel. This reviewer does plenty of thinking and doesn’t particularly like what she is being made to feel. Perhaps I’m not sufficiently inured to millennial insensitivity.
That said, the final ten minutes bring a surprising turn around in content and delivery that just manage to save this performance from being purely an exercise in self-indulgence.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
Comments
Editor May 9th, 2018
I have corrected the number of songs and removed the inaccurate mention of living with your father. The R18 warning is, like all the production information, taken from the Comedy Festival website and therefore official. When producers/ publicists provide media releases direct to Theatreview, they are used to create the production pages. The principle is that productions get to have their say about their show first, then the review offers the critic's view. It is tagged Theatre as well as Comedy because since Aristophanes wrote his satires comedy has been a theatrical form; it is performed live in a theatre (as opposed to on screen or radio); it's not Dance. We broadly distinguish between Theatre and Dance then add appropriate sub-genres. As for choice of reviewer: a twice divoced woman seemed ideal. As managing editor I put the Comedy Festival schedule out to the team of potential reviewers, they choose the shows they feel drawn to and I assign accordingly. Can't be fairer than that.
Julz Burgisser May 8th, 2018
Hi. Performer here with a couple of edits please. I don't live with my dad anymore, which I say in the show, so the end line is incorrect. There has probably been some small confusion around past and present tense. I sing 4 parody songs not 6. It's labelled on your website as "Musical, Theatre, Solo" it's not theatre, it's comedy. If you could change that, that would be great. The show is labelled as "Occasional bad language; Adult themes: R18" on your website also. If one reviewer working for you has a problem with bad language and adult themes due to feeling like it affects their sensibilities, and you know this about the reviewer or they know it about themselves, then perhaps you could in future send an alternate reviewer to a show labelled as such or simply explain why you're unable to attend if you don't have enough people to do this. That would be more beneficial to both parties enjoyment of the process I'm sure. I look forward to the edits and more purposeful reviewer selection for shows in the future.
Krystal May 7th, 2018
Totally agree with this review - She was Self indulgent and just not funny. was a waste of money
Hannah Clarke May 3rd, 2018
Well this review is patronising.