A self confessed hoarder, “Corrine Grant”:comic is attempting to remove the clutter from her life through the show Have My Stuff. She’s not giving stuff away willy-nilly, instead she has selected items that are difficult to part with. In a couple of side project to the show, she is selling a book that she wrote many years ago and is auctioning stuff on Ebay, with all monies raised going to charity. The Ebay auctions are also forming part of an experiment to investigate how crappy an item must be to attract no bidders whatsoever.
It was interesting to note how all of the material she has been doing at stand up venues over the past year have been incorporated into this show. Naomi Robson, a popular target this festival, got quite a bashing in one particular aside. With a couple of dodgy impersonations, John Howard was criticised over Australia’s policy on refugees. She worked this material in to the overall topic contrasting the refugees’ lack of possessions to Corinne’s plethora of accumulated stuff. The Robson gear was just pure loathing of the woman.
Following on from material about refugees, Corinne devised a game show segment in the form of an Australian Immigrant Test. With the assistance of a volunteer ‘Lavina Nixon’ to operate a ‘Fame Game’ board, questions were asked covering Australian issues. Correct answers netted the lucky punter one item of Corinne’s stuff. Another opportunity to acquire stuff occurred at the conclusion of the show where a suitcase of her clothing was left on stage for adventurous females who were about size 8 were encouraged to help themselves.
Corinne’s delivery was friendly and the audience couldn’t help but warm to her. Her greeting of every person as they entered the venue certainly helped in that respect. Occasionally she adopted the goofy persona for some bits, but she generally talked about hoarding with a little bit of pride combined with some degree embarrassment. As she has stated in her publicity, this performance is a kind of therapy for her and it clearly shows. So come along, help Corinne work through her issues, possibly walk away with a souvenir and have plenty of laughs as you do so.
“Have My Stuff” is performed on Tues through Sun until April 29. See “the Festival Website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/265/ for booking information.