Pink Ladies part of the Awesome Improv Festival, Roxbury, 16 Jun 2011

Linda Calgaro and Karina Francis.
Photograph Dennis Mitchell,
Menace Photography 2010 

Yes!!
You can see the Pink Ladies doing a version of their mockumentary upstairs at the Roxbury, 182 St John's Road, Glebe, 2037, on June 16th, 2011.
It's part of an improvisation festival running every Tuesday and Thursday in June.
Come see us!!
Cast includes: Linette Voller, Cindy Tonkin, Sophie Long, Jess Mallett, Karina Francis, Lucie Booker, Linda Calgaro,

What the Show was about - a review from Whatsonsydney

Philippa Bird of Whatsonsydney reviewed the Pink Ladies show on October 8th.

There are still 3 more weeks in October to see our watchable show - October 15, 22, 29 2010 Upstairs at the Roxbury, 182 St John's Road, Glebe, from 10pm for 45 minutes.

Be there or be surprised!

This Friday 15th October 2010 our cast includes Chloe Paul, Lucie Booker, Jane Simmons (as the documentary maker), Jess Mallett, Louise McManus, Karina Francis and Linda Calgaro.

Photo: Taken at one of our Sydney Fringe shows: Linette Voller lights a fire in a forest. Photographer Michelle Ho

What's the show about?

What are Pink Ladies' shows about? It's always hard to say, because we treat the themes that emerge from our brains as we play.

Michael Chabon's afterword from Gentlemen of the Road, defines the themes of other stories he had written prior:

"disappointment, misfortune, loss, hard enlightenment, moments of bleak grace. Divorce; death; illness; violence, random and domestic; divorce; bad faith; deception and self-deception; love and hate between fathers and sons, men and women, friends and lovers; the transience of beauty and desire; divorce - I guess that just about covers it. Story, more or less, of my life".

And a lot of what Pink Ladies cover in our shows are like that:

In the preview at Full Body Contact No Love Tennis and our four Sydney Fringe shows we have treated themes like:

• aging, senility, body image, delusion
• loyalty, celebrity, stalking and fading fame
• ambition, dreams and entrepreneurialism
• turkey basters
• schadenfruede (pleasure at the misfortunes of others)
• how our mothers make us (or not)
• who is God? How do you become a god? Do the gods play poker
• what lengths will you go to in order to please a mother
• organ harvesting
• when sleeping with your friends' future husband is OK (or not)
• the importance of mothering
• divorce and getting on with it

So what are our shows about? We don't know now, but we will know when it happens, and you'll be there to see it happen.

Here's what one audience member said:

"I really enjoyed the sensation of a new story unfolding right in front of me".

Photo: Linette Voller, Erin Foy, Jess Mallett, Sophie Long, Louise McManus - who's sleeping with Rick? Photographer Michelle Ho

So you want to see someone specific? When they're playing

So perhaps you want to see someone special, someone specific, play in Pink Ladies.

Here is a list of who is playing when, so you can cross-reference it with your diary and do good while having a great time seeing your favourite improvisers:

Lucie Booker: 18/09, 26/09, 1/10, 15/10, 22/10, 29/10
Linda Calgaro: 16/09, 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 15/10
Erin Foy: 16/09, 25/09, 26/09, 8/10, 22/10, 29/10
Karina Francis: 16/09, 15/10, 29/10, 25/09, 26/09, 22/10
Sophie Long: 16/09, 18/09, 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 22/10, 29/10
Louise McManus: 16/09, 18/09, 1/10, 8/10, 15/10, 29/10
Jess Mallett: 16/09, 25/09, 8/10, 15/10, 22/10
Chloe Paul: 25/9, 8/10, 15/10, 22/10
Jane Simmons: 1/10, 8/10, 15/10
Karena Thomas: 25/09, 26/09, 1/10, 8/10, 22/10, 29/10
Cindy Tonkin: 18/09, 1/10, 29/10
Linette Voller: 16/09, 18/09, 26/09, 8/10, 22/10

Click on the Cast page to get info about each of these daring women!

photo: Erin Foy gets tough!

More video: Pink Ladies and a creepy doctor...

More video from Improvactually. A sample of what you could see at the Pink Ladies' shows in the Sydney Fringe in September 2010.


Starring Sophie Long as the Creepy Doctor, Linda Calgaro as the Patient patient, and Jess Mallett as the 2nd patient. Music by Anne Maree Wilshire. Filmed in April 2010 by Susan Brown at the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe, NSW, Australia

Our First show: the cast

Our first show is at the Sydney Fringe on Thursday 16th September at 8pm at St Luke's Church Hall, 11 Stanmore Road, Enmore.

The cast for the night are:

• Erin Foy
• Jess Mallett
• Karina Francis
• Linda Calgaro
• Linette Voller
• Louise McManus
• Sophie Long.

We are pumped and full of energy and ideas for this debut night!


photo: another promo image: from left to right Chloe Paul, Louise McManus, Karina Francis, Erin Foy, Karena Thomas

The Bechdel Test - can we pass it?

One of the interesting conundrums we face with our show is creating scenes with all-women.

Women make it up - from left Jess Mallett, Linda Calgaro,
Jane Simmons, Karina Francis, Sophie Long.

With all women characters in our Pink Ladies show, we knew that women could play any profession (from architect to dentist to construction worker to policewoman to prime minister...), and found that when we played men (for love interests, for example), we would often refer to the male characters as "she" later in the show. 


We tried playing only women, since the gender of the character wasn't sticking. But this was avoiding what we thought were 2 problems: Firstly that our male characters were not manly enough (!) or that we were talking about previous scenes rather than creating new ones.


The problem of the "he/she" referring to characters disappears if we talk to each other about something besides the man (or about something that's IN the scene we're playing, rather than talking about a scene we've already seen!).


Which fits with the Bechdel test. Alison Bechdel laid down three criteria for movies she wanted to see:

1. It has to have at least two (named) women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man.

It's a discussion for another day whether this is a worthy way to evaluate a show or a movie. In our improvisation practice we've noticed that when the women in a scene talk about how they feel, the narrative can move forward. When they are purely advancing the narrative by giving information, then it can stagnate (or move forward, but who cares?).

So come see our Fringe shows in September or our Roxbury shows in October 2010 and judge for yourself. Do we pass the Bechdel test?   

p.s. it's actually quite surprising how few films and television shows pass the Bechdel test. You can read which ones do pass (or pass some of the criteria) at the site!

Jess Mallett learns from a crush...

Jess Mallett is famous in the improvising world for her ability to say just the right thing at just the right time. She has a sharp expertise in loquacious characters (see the final question to discover why!). We welcome her into our cast, and look forward to her inventive contribution to the Pink Ladies.

What's your all time favourite improvised scene that you were in? why?

A simultaneously daunting and exhilarating scene that I played in Impromance with Bill Arnett from Chicago. Bill was a man oblivious to people with crushes on him, and I was the friend with a crush on him. I think it was the first time I truly understood the 'game of the scene' concept, with everything he did heightening the frustration of the situation. At one point he even patted me on the head. We played the scene for the reality, not for laughs, but the audience loved it. I had a great time in the scene, and learned a lot so it stands out in my memory. 

What's your all time favourite you witnessed but weren't in, and why?

At a Cranston cup final Simon, Jordan, and some other people improvised a scene in a fridge. I remember that I found it hilarious because of their commitment and I was quoting it for days but I don't remember the specifics. 

Why do you love improvising?

Because it allows you to exist in the moment, turn off your inner critic and just say yes to stuff. 

What's your favourite colour (after pink)?

Purple, deep regal purple, none of this namby-pamby purple, but the pure purpliest of purples.
What's your favourite fruit and why?

Tomatoes, because I hate most other fruit, but I eat these on at least a daily basis.What's your porn name? (first pet + first street you ever lived in)

Ripper East (which sounds more like a set of instructions than a name).What's your ambition for pink ladies?

To rule the world... and raise heaps of cash for the Breast Cancer Network Australia.Favourite word?

Loquacious. 

Photo: Jane Simmons in a rare cranky character, being comforted by the amazing Jess Mallett.