It’s always refreshing when someone who has led such a fascinating, whirlwind life, ends up being such a sweet and down to earth person. Getting on the phone to Margaret Cho, I’m immediately greeted with a sincere apology: “Sorry about that! I saw you calling and I was still talking to the last person and I don’t know how to do call waiting on my phone, so I just watched your call and I was like, ‘I don’t know how to answer it!’”
Margaret Cho has been to Australia but can’t recall if she’s been to Perth. This comes as no surprise – a Korean descent bisexual; Cho is a comedian, singer, songwriter, activist, fashion designer, actress and author. To summarise – she’s been travelling the world for decades.
Coming to Perth stages is ‘Mother’, a stand-up show that confronts stereotypical ideals that are established in modern day society, Cho explained.
“It’s about how I’m old enough to be everybody’s mother but I act like a terrible, terrible, child. When your life doesn’t conform to society’s expectations, when you don’t turn out heterosexual, when you don’t turn out married young and with children, how do you know what to be when you’re getting older? You don’t have that societal example”.
Although delivered as (what is bound to be brilliant) comedy, Cho spoke seriously about a sense of invisibility surrounding those who don’t fit societal norms. Without children and an active member of the LGBT community, Cho could relate to not reaching typical milestones.
“I’m no one’s mother but I should be! I’m not even mothering myself. [We] don’t know it’s traumatic because it’s an invisible fight. How do you deal with invisibility? How do you talk about invisibility? How do you know that you’re there? Or that you’re not there?”
Launching into a discussion surrounding the queer community, the self-confessed bisexual explained her appreciation for drag after growing up surrounded by it. Admitting that she will definitely be visiting some queer venues during her visit, she hopes she’ll be able to witness some local talent. “I love drag queens! I think it’s a really beautiful expression”.
When enlightened about Australian leaders opposing same-sex marriage, the rainbow activist seemed astounded. “Well I think it’s odd because it’s really about human rights and anybody who opposes gay marriage is opposing human rights and they’re opposing equality”.
Reflecting on the past and looking to the future, Cho promised a lot more to come, “there’s things I’m really proud of and things that were really difficult, it’s remarkable. But a lot of things haven’t taught me a lot, I haven’t really got a hold of everything and I haven’t really figured it out either”.
With the show being named ‘Mother’, the question of famous character ‘Mommy’ making an appearance was meant with a resounding “yes”! Perfectly and hilariously imitating her Korean mother, Cho gives visibility often lacking with older Korean women, “women in Korean culture, they become invisible at her age and it’s a great thing to have something about her to celebrate and talk about and she becomes very visible in my world. It’s very uncanny, it’s very precise. She loves it, she really revels in it and she really feels like a star and I think it makes her feel really special and really seen, and I love I get to do that”.
Margaret Cho will be bringing her show ‘Mother’ to the Astor Theatre on Wednesday April 24. Grab your tickets from margaretcho.com
Nadine Walker
