The term 'adulting' has been around for years with the Urban Dictionary defining it as 'behaviour that is seen as responsible and adult-like'. If you’ve ever tried to 'adult' and failed, you can take solace in the fact you’re not alone.
Tash York has a laundry list of failed attempts and in this hilarious 60-minute show, Tash strips away the layers of failure to reveal all the mistakes she made on her way to ‘Adulting’.
Accompanied by pianist Trevor Jones, Tash works her way through her turbulent life – reflecting on a world dominated by hashtags, poor career choices, unbridled consumerism, Tinder, solo me-time, and dick pics.
It seems her early years were simply chaotic with no end of seriously messed up stuff going down in her life. Seriously, who racks up $24,000 in parking fines and gets engaged at 19 to a man with three fake identities and a warrant for his arrest? Tash York!
At 31 years, Tash has “kind of mastered adulting” and is happy to remind the audience that she now makes a living out of telling people how not to ‘adult’. In fact she has been so successful she has performed to sold-out audiences at Edinburgh Fringe, Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Perth Fringe World, Adelaide Fringe, and the Wonderland Festival.
A graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium, Tash has an exquisite singing voice and a musicality that belies her wacky stage antics and parody lyrics. She also has enough madcap stories up her sleeve to keep this comedy cabaret show on-point and laugh-out-loud funny from beginning to end.
Tash delivers her comedy via a string of cover songs, each repurposed to tell a tale of misadventure on her road to ‘adulting’. Songs by Bruno Mars, Destiny’s Child, Nick Lowe, Whitesnake and Ace Of Base all taking a caning – as do Walt Disney’s 'little princesses'. But it’s not all parody and imitation. ‘Adulting’ weaves a rich tapestry through storytelling, song, rapid-fire quips and a dash of audience participation.
What makes her so engaging (and endearing) is the disarming way she recounts her failures. She reveals one disastrous incident after another – each event a masterclass in what not to do on the road to ‘Adulting’. These are not minor errors in judgement but genuinely private experiences that are shared openly and peppered with comical one-liners and off-beat insights. Oddly enough, she makes her version of ‘adulting’ seem like fun.
Tash ends her show with a moving rendition of Roberta Flack’s 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', which she dedicates to her mother. It is a heartfelt and wonderful way to close the set.
Known for her charm, wit, and ballsy voice, this award-winning artist is on a mission to help all of us understand why growing up is so bloody hard!
★★★★★
