Fuck, Marry, Kill. Comedy
Venue: Monument building
Next performance: Thursday 26 June 14:00
Interview
By Thubelihle Mathonsi
Alice Viskat has two productions running on the same day at this year’s National Arts Festival. A bold start, marking Viskat’s debut at the National Arts Festival. One of these productions is the one-woman show Fuck, Marry, Kill.
Viskat grew up surrounded by humour, from her mother to her grandparents. “They are funny and have that dry humour,” she says. Her show promises to be bold, confessional, messy, raunchy, and deeply personal, inspired by her own life stories and characters she has encountered in books. Among her influences is novelist Louis de Bernières, known for his absurd and imaginative historical fiction. “I like creativity, the stretch of the imagination. His work is wordy, quite bizarre, very tongue-in-cheek and surprisingly humorous even though it’s not sold as comedic.”
This taste for absurdity and creativity could also be what fuels Viskat’s love for tragedy. Audiences will see this reflected in her edgy, brutally honest humour. There’s no sugar-coating. Her comedy is raw, in-your-face and unfiltered.
For Viskat, comedy is a way of coping and connecting. “It’s a more vulnerable thing because it’s me and my lived experiences, not a character,” she says. “I’m nervous but once I start, the nerves just go. They evaporate and I’m fine.”
Preparing for two simultaneous productions has been a lot of work and a steep learning curve. Despite the emotional and logistical demands, the comedian is revelling in the opportunity. The line she likes to quote to herself “you can do it like it’s a great way to do it; you can do it like it’s part of a dance” is one that she’s clearly taking to heart.
For comedy lovers who enjoy edgy humour Fuck, Marry, Kill promises to be a worthwhile performance.
