Meet the Mullets is a mockumentary about a passionate theatre troupe of blokes and their Mums, forced to stop work through a global pandemic. In this twisted character comedy, the multi-award-winning, The Travelling Sisters don various mullets to portray three families on the brink.
What do die-hard actors do when their worlds are turned upside down? Meet the Mullets spawned from the cancellation of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in March. In response, The Travelling Sisters (Lucy Fox, Laura Trenerry & Ell Sachs) set about taking the characters from their live show Thy Thus ‘Twas and placing them in front of a camera rather than a live audience.
“This series is complete silliness,” says Laura Trenerry. “It’s our love letter to artists dealing with this pandemic, and to parents as well. Throughout the process we kept finding ourselves bent over laughing with how relatable these stories are, despite how completely absurd and ludicrous the whole thing is.”
Meet Darryl, the mastermind of the three. Obsessed with his mission to “keep the flame of theatre alive”, Darryl tries to keep the ship sailing whilst nursing a broken heart and witnessing too many details of his mother’s new marriage. Berrick, his protégé, struggles to fit into his father’s share-house while his mother tackles a hardcore process of self-isolation and awakening.
Vinnie, stuck in an AirBnB, is quite happy drinking choccie milk and watching TV as his mother Mel has to cancel everything from the Crochet Fair to Spinsters Water Aerobics. Meet the Mullets captures a unique and hilarious snapshot of three artists dealing with isolation and trying to continue their craft.
“Inside Melbourne’s rollercoaster of pandemic restrictions, we wrote the series with our collaborator Kimberley Twiner and filmed it with Jemma Cotter,” says Lucy Fox. “We each play multiple characters, so we often played across from ourselves, essentially being our own scene partner in case we had to shoot alone.”
“We roped in our housemates & partners to be involved. All of our post-production is being done during the stage 3 & 4 restrictions in Melbourne. It’s been a ride,” added Fox.
The Travelling Sisters are Lucy Fox, Laura Trenerry and Ell Sachs. Originally from Brisbane, the trio have toured nationally and internationally to Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Clockenflap Festival (Hong Kong), Prague Fringe, New Zealand Fringe, Glastonbury Festival, Perth Fringe and more.
Meet the Mullets will be released as a five-part-series on YouTube on Sunday 30 August – 8.00pm. Join the Watch Party – limited spots available. For more information, visit: www.thetravellingsisters.com for details. Checkout the trailer here!
Image: The Travelling Sisters presents Meet the Mullets (supplied)