Effie: UpYourselfness – REVIEW
Image: EFFIE: UPYOURSELFNESS. Credit Kyriakos Gold
UpYourselfness is Effie’s ode to herself and a statement of defiance against a world crumbling under an avalanche of political correctness. It is also very hilariousness.
More than three decades ago, Effie Stephanides (alter ego of Mary Coustas) barged onto the Australian cultural landscape with the subtlety and charm of a front-end loader. As the brash, sometimes unintelligible, waitress on the hit TV series, Acropolis Now, Effie became a household name and then went on to become a household legend.
With a visage framed by volcanic, cascading raven (with amber highlights) hair, and a lithe, tightly clad physique, Effie is the epitome of a Greek goddess — with the mouth of a Greek bricklayer. Her thirty-five odd years (sometimes very odd) as an icon have not made her vain, arrogant, or big-headed — she was all those things to begin with.
However, time has made Effie wiser, more introspective, and maybe just a little bit angry. In her current show, Effie bravely, candidly talks about perhaps her greatest challenge of all time: her battle with new language.
Political correctness, pro-nouns…inoffensive, mundane, limp, colourless language. The antithesis of her innate vocabulary.
At The Factory Theatre in Marrickville last Friday night, Effie shared her thoughts with an appreciative audience. The murmurs, cheers, and applause demonstrating agreement gave the show the feel of a revival service. And in fact, that is what Effie was trying to do — revive free thought and speech, while at the same time, making us spit out our beer laughing.
Despite malapropisms and grammatical fur pas, Effie, or perhaps Mary, is a genius of wordplay and a very acute thinker. There was a lot more of Coustas evident in Effie in this performance.
The sold-out show was filled with an adoring crowd and there was an electric energy in the room even before Effie took the stage. Resplendent in a figure hugging, red dress, Effie instantly had, held, squeezed the audience in her hands.
She ended her set by interacting with random people in the crowd, and proving she is incredibly witty off-the-cuff.
This is a savvy, well-written, perfectly performed show that isn’t afraid to venture to the edges of acceptable content, and yeah, maybe it will offend some people at times. But the intention is all good.
