Comedic teens getting their big break
"If you told us a year ago that we would have our own festival show, we wouldn’t have believed you."
Lucy Forrestal
They may not have been alive in the 80s but Wellington teenagers Roman Ratcliff, Lucy Forrestal and Tui Christie know a topic ripe for the comedy treatment when they see it.
The trio is behind We Still Live With Our Parents, a new show devised for this year’s NZ International Comedy Festival.
Forrestal, 18, who was nominated for best newcomer in the 2017 Wellington Comedy Awards, says the show’s inclusion in the month-long festival is still sinking in.
‘‘It’s really surreal seeing our names up there on the same bill as people like Rose Matafeo, it’s so exciting.’’
‘‘If you told us a year ago that we would have our own festival show, we wouldn’t have believed you.’’
‘‘Every single part of the festival has me excited. I’m even looking forward to getting free mayo[nnaise] in the gift bag,’’ Ratcliff says.
The show is entirely written, produced and crafted by teenagers, with all three performers having completed the 2017 Class Comedians programme during last year’s festival.
The programme provides an opportunity for secondary-school students to participate in the arts and is run at no cost to the schools and students that participate.
As well as coaching their creative development, students are also taught professional skills necessary to make a living being funny, along with personal life skills.
‘‘We all got along really well while we were doing it, so we just decided to put on a show together all about our childhood, our parents and what it’s like to be a teenager,’’ Forrestal says.
‘‘We’re the only three who kept doing comedy after the programme.’’
Forestal reached out to Ratcliff and Christie, both 17, about the possibility of doing a show together and they leapt at the chance.
‘‘We came up with the concept of having it be about being a teenager because that’s the main thing we have in common and the thread that runs through the comedy we’ve all done previously, Christie says.
‘‘Our own life experiences come from being in high school, living with our parents and all that.’’
Despite having been born in the late 90s, they settled on an 80s theme based on their love of the aesthetic of the decade.
‘‘Often older people, like my parent’s age, seem to be the people who like my comedy anyway, so it’s perfect, Christie says.
Without giving too much away, Ratcliff says We Still Live With Our Parents shows the thinking of the three ‘‘not-so-typical teens’’, including their views on society in the past, present, and future.
‘‘I think it offers a bit of a comparison between what we find important versus what it was like in the 80s.’’
●➤ We Still Live With Our Parents at BATS Theatre, May 1 to 5; 8.30pm. Tickets from bats.co.nz.