Stefanie Brooke Harper is a Brisbane-based writer, slam poet and stand-up comedian whose new play, ‘Slammed’, will premiere at the Brisbane Powerhouse this month – she's also a very busy lady.
Stefanie says that a comedian’s job first and foremost is to “notice things, then find the best way to make comment on them”, and this is exactly what her new play aims to do. Recently, her slam poem ‘The Topic’ was created and produced for the One Punch Can Kill campaign and seeks to raise awareness of the violence that is rampant within our societies. She credits her love for slam poetry to an early and possibly unfitting fascination with rappers such as Tupac from a young age.
“I was just as short, white, and generally nerdy then as I am now, but for some reason I just fell in love with rap. And now that Iggy Azaelea has beaten me in the race to white-Australian-female-rap-stardom, I realise that the best way to appropriately channel this love is through my writing and performance poetry.”
Stefanie Brooke HarperSet in a fictitious but familiar high school setting amidst some troubled teens, 'Slammed' follows the story of Jake Ryan – a downtrodden 15 year old with a tough life. Neglected by his father and abandoned by his mother, Jake is left to battle his way through Year 10 and find his place in the world, and he needs all the help he can get. But he isn't the only one getting slammed.
In the countdown to ‘Slammed’, Stefanie highlights her Top 5 ways that you know you are truly and utterly exhausted.
You are actually jealous of people watching reality television
In your right state of mind you would never fly into a jealous rage at the sight of a housemate or colleague watching reality TV. When you are well and balanced, you keep reality television in its rightful place of NEVER, or accidental appearances in the background as you cook at the kitchen bench or smash the treadmill at gym. But when in a state of sheer exhaustion, you find yourself desperate to know who can cook the best, dance the best, sing the best or get skinny the best. At these times, try to remind yourself that you are not actually jealous of the act of watching reality television, but rather the fact that one could afford the time and mental space to do so.You stop at the traffic lights, get annoyed that it’s taking so long, then look up to see the light turning RED
This is actually very dangerous and may cause other motorists to hate on you, or worse – to run up the back end of the car that stupidly didn’t move when the light turned green. This happens when you are so exhausted that your brain confuses stopping at a red light with a chance to stop and rest mentally. This means that you zone out for the entire red light cycle and the following green light cycle, and then snap back to attention as the amber light turns red again. This is ridiculous. It is not only frustrating for you as you wasted approximately 6 minutes, but it is genuinely stupid and dangerous. If you find yourself doing this one, you MUST prioritise rest. I repeat, get some rest already!You have dreams about going to sleep
This is like the film ‘Inception’ for exhaustion. You spend so much of your day fantasising about getting to sleep, that when you actually do go to sleep, the fantasy continues. When it gets really weird, you dream of getting sleep, then in your dream of sleeping, dream of sleeping. This can continue into a limitless series of confusing layers, hence the reference to such a film. And just like the film ‘Inception’, it is a little confusing the first time you experience it and leaves you a little disorientated before you realise it was kind of awesome. However in the exhaustion version, the still young and striking-looking Leonardo Dicaprio is sadly nowhere to be found.
You send text messages with typos that you saw BEFORE you hit send
This is particularly problematic if you are a well-known writer and poet, and also happen to be a former English teacher claiming to be an expert on written expression. But when you are completely exhausted, you find yourself thinking things like 'we all know about the struggles of auto-correct, surely they can work it out.' Yesterday I sent a message with the word 'sao' in place of 'ASAP' – which frankly was a little weird for everyone. And sure, maybe the odd typo here and there never hurt anyone’s professional reputation… Scrap that – yes it did. Try to avoid flippant texting or emailing at all costs. When you are really, truly exhausted – people please – proofread, proofread, proofread.You read an article about someone owning a macaroon shop and think 'yeah, that’s what I should have done'
When you are really exhausted you find yourself craving a simpler or different life. Almost every other thing you could do seems calmer, easier and more enjoyable than what you are currently doing. You question your entire existence and generate thoughts like: 'maybe I never wanted to write and create theatre. Maybe all I wanted to do was to come up with new and amazing macaroon flavour each day and sell them in a quaint shop with cross-stitch wall hangings.'You imagine that shop could be in a small country town or a beach side community. Somewhere where the air is sweeter (mostly because of the smell of you cooking your macaroons), the breeze always blows with gentle perfection and the people always smile as they buy macaroons from you at a reasonable but affordable price that still allows you to turn a profit and live simply but comfortably. At these times, try to remind yourself that anything worth doing comes with some level of challenge, and when you meet and conquer this challenge, you will be amazingly proud of yourself and forget all about the macaroon shop… Actually, perhaps don’t rule out the macaroon shop. That little scenario does actually sound pretty good huh?
'Slammed' plays Brisbane Powerhouse, 23 July – 1 August.
