Highlights
- Like most Filipinos, Chinese and other Asian cultures have a long celebration for their Lunar New Year.
- For the first time in the Lunar New Year celebrations in Sydney, the first Comedy Festival is being held in Chatswood this year.
- Filipino-Australian Improv artists Happy Feraren and Jeff Mesina will be among the performers.
“First time that there'll be Filipinos performing. And we are the only Improvisers as all the other performers are all stand-up comedians. This is so exciting,” says Improv artist Happy Feraren.
“We will be able to incorporate our Filipino culture within the scenes. We will be able to speak some Tagalog words or phrases in the middle of the performances," she furthers.
Most of the performers invited to perform at The Concourse in Chatswood, north of Sydney this February 27, are all stand-up comedians
Unscripted Comedy
“Improv comedy is different from stand-up comedy. It‘s not scripted at all. We improvise all the scenes on-the-spot. All impromptu siya,” describes Feraren.
“We go in the stage, we ask inspiration or suggestion from the audience,” she adds.
“The audience will throw in ideas of what they wanted to see in the performance. We’ll use whatever words or idea the audience throw at us for the series of scenes we will be doing,“ explains the Fillow Talk producer.
As there’s no script, the audience plays an important part in the performance of the improv duo Feraren and Jeff Mesina.
“As it’s free-flowing, we will be able to insert scenes showing how Filipinos celebrate Chinese New Year in the Philippines. We can showcase tikoy (Chinese rice cake) and the vibrant dragon dance.”
Also performing in the 75-minute performance this Saturday (February 27) are Asian-Australian comedians Michael Hing, Diana Nguyen, Lawrence Leung and Lizzy Hoo.
The Lunar New Year Comedy Fest is part of the Year of the Ox Festival (3-28 February) in Chatswood, NSW hosted by the Willoughby City Council.
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