Theatre

  • Fringe Festival

Me, My Mother And Suzy Cato

She’s just a girl, standing in front of her mum, asking not to spend Y2K in an apocalypse bunker.

A medium close up shot in the style of a 90s school picture - dark grey gradiated background and that trademark center glow. In the foreground is an adult woman dressed like a teenager from 1999 - wearing a long sleeved mesh top with a black singlet underneath, a choker necklace, and butterfly clips in her auburn hair, which is in a 90's era up-do: straight at the front - curly at the back. She has a gold party hat askew on her head and holds a gold party blower, and while she's technically smiling, underneath she looks terrified.
Past Event

Image Credit: New Lynn Photos

  • Created and Performed by: Florence Hartigan

  • Directed by: Renee Lyons

  • Produced by: Charlotte Minards-Black

It's December 1999, and the one thing helping 17-year-old Rachel avoid the fact she's terrified about her future is the promise of ringing in the year 2000 on a beach with her friends/love interest. So when her mother insists she greet Y2K in an apocalypse bunker her father’s built in their front garden, Rachel turns to the only rational adult she can think of, beloved children’s entertainer Suzy Cato.

This darkly goofy one-woman show is written and performed by elder millennial and apocalypse worrier Florence Hartigan, who can also be seen acting in TV comedy Madam alongside Rachel Griffiths. It's directed by Renee Lyons, who brought her award-winning one-woman show Nick: An Accidental Hero to the Melbourne Fringe Festival Hub in 2014.

A nostalgic journey through the era of Britney Spears and low rise jeans, Me, My Mother and Suzy Cato is a tale of past demons, future hopes, and the universal struggle of the family we need versus the family we get.

Outstanding Performance by an Individual - Auckland Fringe Awards 2024.