TRAVAILS WITH MY EX Part Deux
Fringe Bar, 26-32 Allen St, Te Aro, Wellington
17/03/2021 - 20/03/2021
Production Details
Have you ever decided what you need to do after a break-up is to travel to a developing country to find yourself… *with* your ex? Because you can’t let that friendship go to waste, you worked hard on that! Combination of heat stroke, sleep deprivation and drug sniffer dogs can sure test any friendship, and the stories the cast will tell you are jam packed with these such twists and turns.
Travails with my Ex is a comedy horror story telling-filled fiesta, about where good intentions can take you. Every story told [by a line-up of stand-up comedians] is true and show producer Shannon Gillies strongly urges everyone to come, if not for the laughs for tips on what not to do when your relationship has tanked past the point of no return. Hint: YOU CAN’T CHANGE THEM.
“For all the expense of travels with exes I could have a house and financial security right now. Instead I have debt and this comedy show… You’re welcome!”
The show is held at the very lovely
Fringe Bar
17,18, 19 and 20th March 2021
8.30pm
BOOK: https://fringe.co.nz/show/travails-with-my-ex–part-deux
Theatre , Stand-up comedy ,
2 hrs
Great premise could make for a great show with judicious pruning
Review by Maryanne Cathro 18th Mar 2021
Travails with my Ex – Part Deux is a story telling comedy show where the acts tell funny stories about their exes.
Exes are a wonderful source of comedy. Making fun of someone you chucked, or who chucked you, is cathartic. Some of my best one-liners are based on this premise.
The line up is a mix of talents, genders, ages and styles. Most follow the brief, even if they aren’t brief; some shoe-horn material into that brief like they are trying to wrap a birthday gift in a piece of wrapping paper cut too small, and just stick tape all over it and hope nobody will notice.
It’s really hard to know how long a show will go on for in this format. Telling performers they have six minutes only works if they rehearse and time their material. Or listen.
The stories that follow the brief of telling a story about their ex, with a definite flavour of WHY that person is an ex, are fun and engaging. There is the usual braggle of bromedians whose material is already centred on their disastrous relationships, a couple of stories where I feel it is ‘too soon’ and I feel that the show is 40 minutes too long. Probably because of the performers who didn’t rehearse and time their material.
It’s a great premise and with some judicious pruning it would be a great show.
And if you are going, do take some cash and buy a raffle ticket or five to support the diversity scholarship of the NZ Comedy School.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
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