Tripping The Light Elastic

The idea was born as many others are: composer, writer and musician Megan Shorey was sitting on the deck with several glasses of wine under her belt, lamenting the difficulty of hooking into universal material that would resonate with crowds and get bums on seats. Such talk of bums must have turned her mind to that area of the body because that was the moment her show Undies was conceived.

“Underpants! Oh my god – we all have experience with them, we all have memories of them,” she says. “For me, as a 37-year-old mother-of-two who has at times put my life on hold to be a mother, it's not about wearing a beautiful sexy matching pair of pants and bra any more. It's about comfort, and being able to throw everything in the dryer.”

Undies, while in development, had its first showing at the annual Cabaret Showcase in Sydney late last year. That kickstarted it into being picked up by the Melbourne Cabaret Festival and the Ballarat Cabaret Festival. Brisbane will be the third full season of the solo show where Shorey, a vocal coach at the Queensland Conservatorium Of Music, examines all things underdacks through the medium of song. There are songs for people who wear $100 designer pants, songs for people who don't change them for days, songs for people who don't wear any at all, and even songs for kids.

“When I was growing up in the '70s and early '80s, my brother had these fabulous Spider-Man pants,” Shorey recalls. “And I have a son now who has Ben 10 pants – he thinks he's strong and powerful and heroic. My daughter wears little My Little Pony underpants. What the hell is that? They're pretty, but there's a discrepancy in representation of women. It's interesting to look at how there are no Supergirl underpants for us. [My daughter] should be allowed to put Supergirl underpants on and feel strong!”

That's the nature of Shorey's clever show. It's full of songs about underwear but each is a way in to a wider topic. “It's a platform to ask some important questions,” she says. “Even though these are just piss-taking songs about underpants, in some of them I do put a question out there about how something's kind of not right. I think about a time in my life and there is usually a pair of underpants or a choice of underpants that defines that period in my life – like, what am I going to wear when I make love to my partner for the first time? I can't speak for a man in that regard, but I'm sure they'd avoid the ones with holes in them…”

Shorey spends the show at her piano and says she won't be putting her own Reg Grundies on display – “I'm a more voluptuous woman so I can guarantee you I won't be getting out in my underwear. I would have to pay you to come and see that,” she laughs – but a set of slides provides an added element to the show. “There's some very funny and poignant images and some great quotes,” she says. “You'd be surprised how many famous people actually talk about their underwear.” 

WHAT: Undies

WHEN & WHERE: Saturday 3 November, Brisbane Cabaret Festival, Judith Wright Centre