When Judith Lucy and Denise Scott started talking about creating their new show, their management was all for it. As long as it had nothing to do with COVID or lockdowns.
So what is the comedians' new show Still Here about? As people who attend their Canberra Theatre Centre performances this week will find out, it's about COVID and the lockdowns.
"Everyone we've spoken to, suggested as long as the show is not about COVID, or the pandemic, because who wants to hear about that?" Scott said.
"But we'd already written the show. And spent quite a long time writing it. So we had to make the most of it."
It's not the first time the comedy duo has bucked the advice of management. Their last show was called Disappointments and despite being told no one would buy tickets to a show with such a name, it proved to be a hit.
Lucy said they were almost reworking that theme.
"We've almost taken that concept because what could be more disappointing than the last couple of years?" she said.
"We're drowning in that disappointment and we asked the audience to drown with us."
From midday drinking to Zoom calls and sourdough making - no element of Scott and Lucy's lockdown life has been left untouched for the show. It asks questions such as, 'How much alcohol does it take to have a drinking problem during lockdown'? And, 'Are middle of the night gin and tonics OK'?
"I was single and living alone. That was very frustrating for those of us in that situation, who felt we would never be touched by another human being as long as we lived. That is another thing that comes into the show," Lucy said.
"But look, we talk about and cover everything that happened in Melbourne, too, from riots to earthquakes. And the feeling that it was generally the end of days."
In all seriousness, though, or at least as serious as a comedy act can be, they are glad to be back on the road after an uncertain couple of years for the entertainment and arts industry.
"We used to do this warm-up, but we have to do it now, where we do a bit of face-slapping, just wake one another up to say, 'We're here. We're still here. We have to work'," Scott said.
"We're not in our living rooms anymore drinking, we're having to work."
- Still Here by Judith Lucy and Denise Scott is at the Canberra Theatre Centre on Thursday and Friday at 7.30pm. Tickets from canberratheatrecentre.com.au.
