BACK TO CONTENTS
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Effie the (no longer) Virgin Effie turns 30 this year and has discovered sex and desire. Her creator Mary Coustas talks to Ara Jansen about how Effie has changed her life. MF: To celebrate Effie's 30th, you've created a new show called Love Me Tinder. Effie's married, lost her virginity, she must have a lot to say about that. MC: Love Me Tinder is the third part of the trilogy. In the first show, A Date with Effie, she was looking for love. In Effie the Virgin Bride, she got married to Shane Bradley Cooper, her first kiss from primary school. Love Me Tinder takes place seven months after the wedding. This one deals with the reality on the other side of the fantasy. What happens when [life is] mundane, every day and routine? What happens when one of the most attractive, coveted, lustedafter-virgins of modern history finally yields to the pressures of marriage and intimacy? It occurred in Effie’s Southern Hemisphere, “a beast, a ravenous beast, was released from within” and, in one night, Effie went from frigid to feral. As far as she’s concerned, the genie is well and truly out of the bottle and this dangerous curiosity has taken hold. Effie loves Shane and she doesn’t want to lose the love of her life because of this. MF: Celebrating Effie’s 30th anniversary, how do you think of her? Is she a sister, a character who sits in the cupboard until you get on stage, or like having another personality? MC: I see Effie as the child in me.
50 | APRIL 2020
Effie is the love letter to the first decade of my life growing up in the working class Melbourne suburb of Collingwood. I liken Effie to putting on my favourite pair of ugg boots. It’s an utter joy and the only time in my life where I am totally fearless and free. MF: What’s the secret to Effie’s longevity? MC: Effie speaks the truth in a way that is totally acceptable and refreshing. In a time of such political correctness and overmonitoring of freedom of speech, this is a necessity and something comforting for the audience, as much as it is for me. Effie’s intentions are never negative. It’s theatrical and fun and we cannot get enough of that, especially in times like now where there is so much fear and judgement. MF: Did you have to think hard about how the character would age in attitude and tastes, or was it natural and effortless? MC: I have always found Effie effortless. It’s like another skin for me. I revel in her openness and her ability to touch and connect with anyone and everyone. Half of the show, every single night, is improvised. It’s that part of the show that is the high wire act. People go crazy for it because you never know what’s going to happen. And magic always happens.
MF: The world isn’t the same as it was 30 years ago, so how did Effie navigate that? How did you keep her funny, keep her soul but still move with the times and make sure she didn’t become a relic of a bygone era? MC: I have put the character in so many different situations. Whether it’s with prime ministers, sporting stars, the general public or very difficult things like Make a Wish for children whose final wish was to spend the day with Effie, or the litany of TV shows that I have appeared on over the past three decades. Situations that challenge us force us to extend ourselves and that’s when we are at our most present and often where we rise. MF: Do people laugh with or at Effie – or both? Is there power in that? MC: I think people do laugh with and at Effie. They laugh at how she looks at the world as well as how she reacts to it. We love larrikins who are relaxed, loveable and down to earth. That Aussie spirit is so much of our country’s character. It insists we don’t take life, or ourselves, too seriously. Regarding the power of that, if we look at what the media and society often tells us, that is in order to be a success you need to be educated, Anglo and acceptable in so many ways that Effie isn’t. This is where a great character can make a category all of its own. It’s like
MEDICAL FORUM | CARDIOVASCUL AR HEALTH ISSUE
