Bite me But Smile performed at the Brisbane Powerhouse, in the Graffiti Room, for 4 nights only. Presented by Elizabeth Shearer, in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse, Bite Me But Smile played as part of the ever magical Wonderland Festival 2019. Whoever curates the Wonderland Festival has good taste as they seem to only select gems, and Bite me But Smile is simply just another treasure.
Walking into the Graffiti Room, which seats about 25 people in total, it almost feels like walking into Alice in Wonderland and I was expecting to see the The Dormouse and The Mad Hatter playing handball with the Cheshire Cat. Side note: this is not a place for the claustrophobic. This one-person cabaret is the brainchild of Elizabeth Shearer who in Bite me But Smile, becomes Miss Zella Shear. The play opens with Zella handling a pink dildo and making a string of witty one liners related to it. As she hands it to various audience members, she feigns embarrassment and adds “It's only slightly used.”
From that point on, it’s clear to see that Zella has the audience wrapped around her little finger. Next, she pulls up three men from the crowd and places them in aprons. The aprons are fairly cheeky as there is a black panel where each of the men’s private parts would be and she continues to force each of them to give her presents. When it comes down to it, Zella worships her dog more than anything else in life, and perhaps this suggests that she sees men as merely toys for her to play with.
Zella comically admits to the audience that all her relationships have fallen apart because she always put her dog first. Shearer’s jokes are really funny and her timing is perfect. She is always one step ahead of the audience, and plans her setups carefully. Zella then pulls out a kebab with eyes, nose and mouth and calls it ‘Donna the Kebab Fairy Godmother.’ This is particularly hilarious as the kebab acts like a disgruntled agony aunt, insisting upon roasting Zella for the myriad of mistakes she has made in her life. This is one of the many comical aspects of the show, and Zella even threatens to bin Nanna many times.
Zella eats vegemite on toast while drinking XXXX beer. Throughout the performance, she glides effortlessly between opera, burlesque and various bogan insults. Shearer is effectively redefining art here. She also has an excellent voice, and the audience really sat up and took notice when she started to sing opera, including the work of Puccini. No one saw this coming. The piece ran for 60 minutes and was a resounding success. It was a rollercoaster of emotions and packed with a great selection of jokes and some entertaining and slightly dodgy costume changes. To top it all off Zella insisted on hugging each member of the audience as they left the theatre. Superb!
21st Nov - 24th Nov 2019
Brisbane Powerhouse, Graffiti Room
By: Donald Gunn