“Risotto is our Motto”. Only a B Grade celebrity run Aid Agency could possibly have come up with a slogan such as this. Tanya Losanno uses this concept as a basis of her new festival show in which she explores the concept of how people attempt to help others and improve the world.
After starting proceedings by apologizing for it not being a cooking show, Tanya began by telling us all about her Italian parents and her experiences growing up with them. There were many amusing anecdotes about them and she managed to somehow tie this in with the concepts of both Risotto and helping those less fortunate. At first, all these stories about the Losanno family didn’t appear to have much to do with the concept of Aid Agencies. It was later in the show that I realised that they all contributed to providing a background to Tanya’s values and beliefs. Also by exploring her parents attitude towards her values (they considered her be to somewhat of a hippy) and combined with tales of her sister who actually was a hippy, she was able to dispel the public misconception that it was only hippies who wanted to save the world.
It was when Tanya began her tales of working for Oxfam that much of what she had discussed previously began to fall into place. Tanya, being self described as an “Aussie Bogan Wog with Hippy Tendencies”, was able to relay many humourous stories about being in this slightly eccentric environment.
Tanya then went on to talk about actual celebrities who contributed to the world via Aid Agencies, both those of high regard and the new wave of B Grade celebrities getting in on the act. It was from this that led to the climax of the show in which Tanya unleashed the titular Aid Agency onto us.
From the character work Tanya had done using this idea in the past, I must admit I had entered the show with a certain assumption about how she would do this. I was pleasantly surprised with the completely different approach that Tanya used. She presented the scenario where sometime in the future, Tanya had become a minor television personality and had won a Logie. “Celebrity Tanya” then used her acceptance speech to launch “Risotto Sans Frontieres”. This was a trimmed back version of her old character’s piece substituting Tanya’s own personality into the performance. A presentation complete with T-Shirts, bumper stickers and agency logos, it was a delight to watch.
Tanya has created both an amusing and thought provoking show. She has a wonderful technique of delivering her tales to the audience which is very much like a friend telling you stories of their life with a high degree of enthusiasm. The intimate room in which she performs helps to create this vibe. It’s definitely worth checking out.
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