Comedy Fest review: Savanna Calton & Sera Devcich in Unstoppable
Savanna Calton and Sera Devcich are two up and comers in the NZ Comedy scene and they both have a very bright future ahead of them if Unstoppable is anything to go by.
The show is formatted as you’d expect a duo show would be, with one performer followed by the other. Sera opens the evening I attended and she’s all fire and piss and vinegar. She’s hardcore and doesn’t shy away from tough subjects. The show bills itself as “featuring stories of times they messed up, but got back on their feet; because they are terrible shameless humans” and that’s not a wholly inaccurate description. There’s also probably a another level of metaphor for the show.
Comics should focus on what they know, and that’s exactly what Sera does. She mines her personal background well, bringing out nuggets of gold from her own environment. Telling us tales of her own suffering with explicit detail, tales of her daughter’s suffering, and then tales of anyone who she manages to date’s suffering. It’s not groundbreaking material but it’s strong and there were a number of really great bits in there.
There was a bit of mic work that could be improved on – though this could also be a factor of the venue where the speakers are weirdly behind the audience so you get the physical appearance of the comic in front of you, but the audio coming from behind. This made it hard to hear everything that was said. Some of Sera’s material is incredibly cutting and funny, and I would love to see her just go into the darkest places she can find about society around her and really expose that. Her piece around feminism (or anti-feminism) in particular is a great example of this.
Savanna comes on second and she’s undoubtedly a star in the making. She won the 2015 Raw Comedy Quest which is a big deal and it looks like she’s going to go on to great things. Her material is more polished than Sera’s and her self-deprecating turn seems to sit better with the audience.
There were a few jokes that were, what you’d call industry in-jokes, but there were enough comics in the audience on the night I went that these were fine. Though probably puzzling to the non-comedians. Savanna’s style is dry and insightful. She cuts deep with lines about herself, her past and now her current situation and gets huge laughs from the crowd. She possesses strong self-awareness which really helps bring the funniest parts of her to the surface.
Again she could improve her mic work too, or have the tech ratchet up the volume for her, because there were parts we missed due to quietness.
The two make a great duo. They complement each other brilliantly and 30 minutes of each of them is perfect. There’s not quite an hour of material from each yet, but I’m sure they’ll both get there soon.
Savanna Calton and Sera Devcich in Unstoppable
Wellington, Ivy Bar & Cabaret, 3-6 May, 8:30pm
TICKET PRICES
Full Price $18
Concession $15
Group 5+ $15
Cheap Wednesday $15
Auckland, Backbeat Bar, 11-13 May, 9.45pm
TICKET PRICES
Full Price $18
Concession $15
Group 5+ $15
Cheap Wednesday $15
*service fee may apply
