Fierce! Femme! Global First Nations!
Arts Centre Melbourne from 20 – 24 April
Steeped in the Word of The Mother and packing a punch of Hip Hop politics, Hot Brown Honey – THE REMIX is an extraordinary production that spins tradition on its head, going above and beyond to challenge boundaries and embrace resilience. The performance can be seen at Arts Centre Melbourne from 20 – 24 April as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Equal parts theatrical masterpiece & social activism, Hot Brown Honey has mobilised the Hive with a stellar new posse of phenomenal Global First Nations women set to smash stereotypes in an unapologetic celebration of our similarities and differences.
So get ready to laugh until you cry, clap until your hands bleed, dance in the aisles and shake every part of what your mama gave you. It’s time to be the change we want to see.
Led by Lisa Fa’alafi and Busty (Kim Bowers) Beatz, Hot Brown Honey are the winners of multiple awards around the globe including the Helpmann Award for Best Cabaret Performer, (2017), Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production (2017), Green Room Award for Best Production and Best Design (2016) and the UK’s Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing With Form (2016). Nominations include a UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production (2018) and the Toronto Theatre Critics for Best Ensemble (2019).
Samoan Australian Lisa Fa’alafi is a multidimensional artist and teine toa and the writer/ director for Hot Brown Honey. Her works make space for indigenised feminine processes, pushing cultural and gender boundaries as well as Decolonising western theatrical spaces.
Lisa is Co-Director of artist collective Polytoxic who have created platforms and landmark intersectional works for the past 20 years, and she continues to grow a cohort of incredible BIPOC creatives through the Hot Brown Honey initiative Hive City Legacy, which first premiered a London chapter at Roundhouse 2018, touring 2019 and has become a template to create a global Hive. HCL Chapters are set to bloom in Ireland at Dublin Fringe 2022, Canada, Australia and Aotearoa.
As an independent maker Lisa has worked with numerous renowned artists and companies, including Rosanna Raymond’s SaVAge K’lub (APT GOMA), ATUA (National Gallery of Australia), Nick Cave: The Heard (GOMA), The Guilty Feminist, Babushka, Circa, The Art Engineers, Don’t Speak UK, The Treasury London, Bechdel, The Arts Hour BBC and Phluxus2 Dance Collective. Her work has been seen at Sydney Festival, festivals in Noumea and Vanuatu, Darwin Festival, Brisbane Festival, Las Vegas Burlesque Hall of Fame, Dublin Fringe, Planet IndigenUs Canada and PS122’s COIL Festival NYC, Make Mentorship programme Ireland, Transform Festival Vancouver Canada and throughout Finland and Sweden.
Writer / Music Director Busty (Kim Bowers) Beatz is a killer Music Director, Composer, Sound Artist, Music Dramaturg and Performance Maker who has been making fearless art to activate, pollinate and liberate for over 25 years. Of Xhosa heritage and living on Yuggera country, Kim creates sonic experiences intersecting disciplines, politics and soundlines with a focus on giving voice to stories which are unseen and unheard.
Busty signed her first record deal at 16, performing, recording and touring with bands for over a decade – this era has been immortalised via her contribution to Sophie Howath’s Big Day Out book Peace, Love and Brown Rice and her place in the Women Who Rock photographic exhibition at Arts Centre Melbourne. She is a composer for film, including Amar (Moon) directed by Fatima Mawas (Winner: Best Short Fiction Film – Victorian Multi Cultural Film Festival), Love Bites directed by Jermaine D’Vauz (ABC/Screen Australia) and Lawrence Lim’s award winning short Eleven.
Composition and Sound Design for theatre credits include Belvoir Street Theatre, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Queensland Theatre, La Boite Theatre Company and London’s Roundhouse. Music Direction credits include East London West Sydney directed by Breakin Convention’s Jonzi D and Polytoxic’s Demolition nominated for three 2021 Matilda Awards. Busty is the Composer and Sound Designer for Darlinghurst Theatre/Green Doors sensation Seven Methods of K*lling Kylie Jenner co-directed by Shari Sebbens and Zindzi Okenyo.
“This triumphant alt-cabaret proves politically charged theatre can be the most entertaining night out you’ll have in a long time” ★★★★★ Time Out
“It’s phenomenal – sexy, foot-stomping fun and radical consciousness-raising all at the same time.” ★★★★★ The Scotsman
“…an all-female cabaret-style show from Australia that takes on gender, sexism, colonialism and race with a raucous glee.” The Guardian
“Everything you love about the smash hit show, with extra sweet treats of radical fierce love and joyous rage” Centrestage
“Hot Brown Honey is more than a show, it’s a movement…The future of feminism is Hot Brown Honey and it is delicious.” Vancouver Presents
