Melissa Western and her husband/partner in crime, Anthony 'Tnee' Dyer, are taking their new cabaret show, 'Sweet, Sour and Saucy – starring as their alter-egos, super-Aussie married couple Barbara and Barry – on the road.
The on-stage duo present a vintage style talkback radio show interspersed with virtuosic jazz performances and relationship advice. “The idea to create these characters and the radio show came from us working together and doing a lot of jazz standards but really wanting to present them in a really interesting and entertaining way,” Melissa explains.
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Being married allows Melissa and Tnee to use their natural chemistry on stage and explore more adventurous territory. “The thing about working with your partner is that you can go to places that you might not necessarily go to with just another performer or another actor on stage. Because we live our entire lives together we can push each other to the extreme, and it's a really nice opportunity for us to exaggerate some of the things that might happen quite naturally between us as a couple.”
The show also has an interactive element in which audience members are encouraged to participate. “The first half is very much just us on stage and the story of our talkback radio show, but in the second half the audience really become our 'live studio audience' and it becomes very interactive, using what the audience's problems might be and how we can respond to them. It's really electric because we have no idea what's going to happen and the audience has no idea what is going to happen either. Once people have been primed by the first half they know it can be really silly and really over the top, and kind of give them licence to go there themselves.”
Pre-requests for love advice can also be submitted by audience members before the performance – via Twitter, Facebook and the performers' website – to be dealt with during the show. “It's totally different every show, a different repertoire every show. We have a huge repertoire of songs as musicians and we can work with what the audience is giving us because we have so many songs to respond to them with. Every audience will have different people who will be able to connect with different songs that we have. Every show will be fundamentally different.”As a whole the cabaret performance feeds off the comedic, theatrical and musical strengths of both performers. “Tnee's skill is in music, and my background is theatre, so we both have our strongest foot in each camp. In terms of musicianship, it's always going to be strong because we gig a lot, but the really exciting part is that we can be really quick on the jokes and banter. It's not a comedy show with a bit of music, it's pretty much half and half.”
Melissa and Barry have no time for rest with plans to visit the UK after touring the show, along with a version for kids. “We are travelling extensively throughout Queensland with Barbara and Barry and then with our other alter-egos who are called Lissa and Neenee who are the children's version. The way that we work out our life is that we just constantly keep creating shows and different alter-egos!”'Sweet, Sour And Saucy' will play at the Judith Wright Centre Of Contemporary Arts 5-7 February.
