OBSERVER: Ting Lim – Are You For Real?
You Pho Real?
n Ting Lim – Are You Pho Real? – Melbourne Comedy Festival, delivers a tight, detailed, engaging, amusement ride through the lens of cultural differences.
Exploration of belonging and inclusion through family, relationships and food to a full house, with her every step.
Free association of past traumatic events brought into the light through the perspective of humour, Pho’s Real story, the difficulties of Asian acceptance and multi-culturalism in Singapore and Australia. Australia ironically revealed as a place easier for her self acceptance.
Stand-up honed over time often through tryout venues where comedians gather and share ‘bits’ of new material. Then ‘bits’ together become a larger piece. Pho Real was well honed.
Ting’s stand-up style is engaged and relaxed. Some interaction with audience, but sensitive to individuals’ limits. Despite the density of the script there was no sense of panic or urgency, just an easy presence and relatedness leaving the audience relaxed and engaged. With that safety the audience was consistently responsive in the front but the back missed out a bit.
Staging was a comedy Black Box setup with microphone and low table for water, no dress ups, props or characters.
Words, phrases and situational set-ups and pay-off were structured well to great audience response throughout the set. Not just one-liners, narrative insight through comedic contrast revealed stereotyping inside and outside Asian culture.
Comedy is culturally so important. Seeing it in person you experience what a one way broadcast cannot achieve, that performance is affected and shaped by dialogue between audience and performer through mutual presence.
As an audience you are part of what comedy achieves, a bridging of cultural differences whatever they are, that we all feel, but often don’t know how to articulate, the recognition, comedic relief. I recommend seeing performances of Pho Real.
Presented at the Melbourne Town Hall.
Review by Sebastian Gunner