[2015109] 2 States of Lauren Bok and Bridget Fahey
Lauren Bok & Bridget Fahey @ Producers Cranny
6:15pm, Wed 4 Mar 2015
I’m a big fan of Lauren Bok, but I’d only seen Bridget Fahey do the odd spot at non-Fringe-season comedy nights… but Bok’s dual-headlining show with Claire Sullivan had been such a success that I had no qualms slotting this show in.
But – as was unfortunately common this year – there was a very light crowd in for this performance: Gordon Southern (who was unusually quiet), his wife, and myself. As we entered the Cranny, Bok and Fahey were scatting with big Cheshire-cat grins on their faces; they seemed utterly delighted to have this audience, which was nice.
The girls co-operatively opened the show, cracking each other up as they did so (and continued to amuse each other during the performance); after tinkering with some gigglish accents and improvised bits, we – the audience – are given the mike to introduce them before they started the show proper. Needless to say, my intro was complete shit compared to Southern’s off-the-cuff work of art.
Thereafter, Bok and Fahey alternate between solo and duo spots; Fahey’s stories included the awesome description of “coming out” as a vegetarian (her grandmother being her biggest obstacle). Bok regaled us with tales of the office life of temp workers and boyfriend dilemmas, with cheekily creative – but thinly-veiled – sex references.
The closer is an absolute belter, with a ukulele (Fahey) and kazoo (Bok) combination (plus maracas-in-the-bra) musical conglomeration, merging the works of Survivor and Journey for a messy overlapped-vocal delight.
These 2 States were lots of fun this evening… but, as usual, I find myself wondering how much better – or just different – the show would have been with a bigger crowd. As it was, Bok and Fahey worked their minuscule crowd just fine, and the three of us had a great – and very personalised – time, but I wanted much more for the girls on stage.
(109) 2 States of Lauren Bok and Bridget Fahey: Great laughs & songs with a double dose of uke&kazoo&Foreigner&Survivor. #ff2015 #ADLfringe
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 4, 2015