Get Stuffed
Bedlam & Squalor, Level 1/18 Garrett Street, Te Aro, Wellington
09/03/2023 - 09/03/2023
Production Details
Semi Cho
Sushe Production
Get Stuffed
Get Stuffed is the maiden show created and produced by Semi Cho of Sushe Productions. This
show features a line up of stand up Comedians as they stuff and roast the wild world. Sharing and
doing their best to intimidate the stage with the stand out performers will be an eclectic exhibit of
taxidermy creatures.
The show creeps around the fascinating relationship humans have with glamorous roadkill and
stuffed birds beyond a Sunday roast. We ask the hard hitting questions around the double
standards of stuffing a bird. Would you be offended if someone owned a stuffed exotic creature?
Could I persuade you, taxidermy is a sustainable hobby?
Get Stuffed is a unique opportunity for the audience to get up and personal with the animal
kingdom. Part of the fascination with taxidermy began as it was an opportunity to look at the
untameable up close, so close even those with limited vision could observe the details. If still not
able to decipher, taxidermy becomes tangible. Although touching the beast is prohibited, a unique
level of perception is gained. Concurrent in real life, it would be impossible to invade a wild
animals’ bubble and keep all fingers and toes.
When confronted with taxidermy, it can provoke a range of emotions. Whether perceived in a
negative or, alluring to others, Get Stuffed is a celebration to all the animals we have on this earth
as precious pieces of art we need to preserve and protect on our planet – stuffed or alive.
Sushe Production for NZ FRINGE 2023
Date: Thursday 9 March 2023
Session Times: 18:30 – 19:50 | 20:30 – 21:50
Venue: Bedlam & Squalor, Level 1/18 Garrett Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
Ticket Info: https://fringe.co.nz/show/get-stuffed
Semi Cho MC
Perfromers
Creativ Kate
Michael Macaulay
Darryl Wilson
Tech
Laura Tremain
Comedy , Theatre ,
1 hr 20 max
A thought-provoking presentation of humans, animals and birds
Review by Margaret Austin 10th Mar 2023
Bedlam and Squalor is not exactly an appealing name for a bar, and I enter it with some trepidation. Will the performance I’ve come to see echo the theme? There’s no one to check my ticket, and I can’t spot a stage or anything like it. But there are some intriguingly cloaked objects at one end of the room and I’m guessing they’re going to be part of the action.
Then MC comedian Semi Cho fronts up to the microphone. Her air of defiance is at odds with her small stature and white blonde hair. I’m not sure why talk of funerals figure so strongly, but I suppose as Cho says, they give one a reason to live. We learn she doesn’t sleep well and that delusions at 4.00 am provide inspiration for slam poetry.
Now we get fifteen minutes with Daryll, referred to as Wellington’s favourite kookaburra. He writes jokes on the phone, thinks being described as ‘ethically monogamous’ on Facebook is not very helpful and fills us in on ‘might-get-lucky’ underwear.
Now comes an interrogation by MC Cho that includes an ornithological unveiling, and we learn that onstage is her collection of stuffed birds and animals. My initial reaction of distaste gets dispelled when I learn that Cho is legally blind, so the tactile is hugely important to her. Hence the line up of cloaked objects.
Michael is next up with jokes he is prepared to admit are generated by ChatGPT. He comments on David Attenborough’s changed accent, and notes that bestiality is becoming an internet phenomenon. He pronounces it “beastiality” but maybe that’s because he’s from Middleborough. We hear about hedgehogs who take golden showers, and the immigration problems of squirrels.
I want to see the animals we’ve glimpsed at closer quarters and find myself blindly feeling a cat, noting the luxurious quality of its fur and its underlying muscularity. There’s a rooster too and exploring the rough texture of its feet it’s easy to imagine how useful they are for perching and clawing. Get Stuffed is more than a play on words. It’s a thought-provoking presentation of humans, animals and birds.
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