A New Leaf Media

You may have heard of Vaya Pashos before’everyone I have spoken to has’either through local radio station SYN FM or that annoying call you get at 8:54pm on Tuesday night: ‘May I speak with the main householder please’?

It’s a typical day in the office, and Vaya Pashos, aka Vaya the Slayer from the Annihilators Team, has arrived with tissues, coffee, a magazine, and a box of Wet Ones for wiping down the shared headset and keyboard.

After a year as a telemarketer, Vaya has ample material for a suite of bona fide, full-bodied satire, and it’s her remarkable ability to parody this soul destroying daily charade that keeps the audience engaged, entertained and in a state of unprompted empathy.

With the show heavily reliant on audio cues for outbound calls and postmodern thought bubbles, which illuminated internal narratives, the sound may have needed some closer attention. Some thought bubbles risked popping in thin air and awkward silence, before the audience was afforded the right to have the ‘Play’ button pressed in a timely manner.

However, the casualness of on stage costume changes and a technical handicap seemed to appeal to a forgiving audience for whom casual was closely linked with likeable, accessible and humbly local. Vaya Pashos champions a capital L for Local content in an international festival. Her 2006 festival act stations a fine example of ingenious hilarity that doesn’t need to be flown in or flounced around.