Barefaced Stories has become a much loved fixture of the Perth calendar; a monthly storytelling extravaganza that has grown exponentially since it’s launch back in 2010.
Monday evening saw Barefaced put on the second of two Fringe World gala editions, hosted by Perth’s very own answer to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – Andrea Gibbs and Kerry O’Sullivan. The premise of these special gala performances was simple: to collect together some of the finest comedians and theatre performers Fringe World has to offer and make them tell some stories.
You get that many comedians and theatrical people on the same bill, you’re going to be in for an entertaining night, and Monday evening’s gala certainly delivered; for the most part it was a hilarious night packed with tails of drinking tea with terrorists, terrible university productions and punching aggressive strangers in Melbourne whilst wearing a children’s bicycle helmet replete with cat ears.
With six storytellers, not to mention the two hosts, you certainly get your monies worth of entertainment. Remarkably with that many performers everything ran pretty smoothly, no mean feat given that some those telling stories had their own shows to get to or from as well.
As mentioned it was a largely irreverent affair, with the vast majority of the stories drawing plenty of laughs from the audience. The only exception being Natasha York, whose story was more serious and more obviously emotional than the others, and ultimately it felt a little bit out of place because of it, despite it being an interesting enough story.
Trying to pick a favourite story is near impossible. Though if I had to pick it would probably be Sameena Zehra’s story of her formidable grandmother and her experiences vacationing in Kashmir with her family. Enter hapless terrorists and a grandmother with a penchant for curses. That being said I did also enjoy Chris Turner’s story about how a young Scottish girl acquired 57 guinea pigs, or Anne Edmond’s tale recounting the horrors of renting and the neighbours you might end up with (and the food poisoning that may ensue). And then there was Adrienne Truscott’s tale… you get the point.
One of the great things about this gala was that it gave you a little glimpse at these different performers, a taste for their brand of comedy or story telling. And frankly if I had both more money and more time I’d have booked up to see all of their shows, the dates and times of which were all handily printed on the program. So instead I’ll just have to be content with getting to more Barefaced Stories nights in the future.
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Barefaced Stories will also be hosting another Gala, this time as part of the Perth International Arts Festival Writers Festival Program on Friday 19th Feb at the Octagon Theatre. For more information and tickets click here
And for more information on Barefaced Stories visit here
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