The bass is pumping on āBitch Better Have My Moneyā as we enter The Old Fitz Theatre. Courtney Cavallaro, Emma Wright and Rebecca Sgouros are lounging around dressed like ābruvsā, just doing their thing, as the audience gets seated. The set is a basic youth hangout with a dated fridge and a futon, a six-pack of beer atop the fridge and a poster about COVID and some sanitiser on the bench. These items suggest the era to be somewhere around 2020, backed up by the mention of the āend of the world in three daysā that comes soon after the show commences.
Rebecca Sgouros opens with a powerful and poetic monologue, hitting beats with poignant pauses. At times, she seems to be staring directly at you as she presents a moralistic challenge or subversive view. Itās unsettling and awe-inspiring at once. When she finishes, the lights and sound perfectly match her integration with the rest of her crew, as they start their wolf-pack bonding ritual before breaking into a dance that is aptly performed to a song with repeated lyric āBonkersā.
I hate spoilers, so I wasnāt aware in advance that this was a gender-flip piece, but it became clear very quickly. Rebeccaās character, Cory, is the leader of the āpackā. The self-referred ādogsā are always on the hunt, always looking to get their āclit wetā. They engage in ālocker room talk” while pushing and shoving and one-upping each other. They launch into discussing the news that the world is possibly ending in three days and discover that seventeen-year-old āLuckā is still a virgin. Of course, this wonāt do.
Cory is the ringleader, getting the new blood to do her dirty work. Daks (Emma Wright) is the beating heart of the crew, who is torn between being a āreal womanā and her clear conflict in the face of these societal norms, as well as a protective urge towards the newcomer, Luck. After more of their barking, growling dirty talk they get their āBig Clit Energyā on and venture out to cause a ruckus cos girls be girls, right?
The dog-pack motif paired with the gender-flip highlights the preposterous nature of the patriarchy and the norms we accept and allow as a society. The banter between them echoes that we’ve heard too many times when it comes to males, and underscores the impact on young boys as they develop a sense of self and what it means to be a man. Rebeccaās narrative, told through the shifting power dynamics of the triad and the exceptional transitions between scenes, is punctuated by the lights, sound and ensemble work between the players. Itās pure genius that leaves no stone unturned.
Every line has a beat, with clever use of prose and layering. These three execute this seamlessly, which can only be attributed to a strong connection, workshopping and partnership in the background. Each of these incredible actors has their own individual moments of wrenching our hearts, among all the nuance of their keeping up appearances and delivering comedic lines to a full house of raucous laughter… all without breaking character.
Itās a darkly hilarious piece about a pervasive reality, and it tells a tragic tale in a truly remarkable way.
Itās powerful and entertaining, and not to be missed.
To book tickets to What Of It, please visit https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/what-of-it.
