From the start to the end, life has its frustrating, funny and frustratingly funny moments. Sharing just a few of their moments are local comedians Caitlin Maggs and Sarah Stewart in Before and After at The Street Theatre on Saturday 14 March.

Performing as part of this year’s Canberra Comedy Festival (CCF), the duo met on the Canberra comedy scene and instantly connected. Despite their 30-year age gap, the pair get on like a house on fire and are excited to present their work together.

“She’s pretty much at the beginning of her career, whereas I’m at the end of my career and into my 60s, so I have gone through all the menopause stuff,” says Sarah.

The before is Caitlin Maggs, a young mother, electrician and business owner. Caitlin won the ACT Raw Comedy State finals in 2021 and went on to perform at the Melbourne Comedy Festival in her sixth-ever show. Employing only women at her electrical company the comedian is inspired by her day-to-day life and working in a male-dominated field.

“A lot of my life; my job, my kids, basically a lot of myself, it’s selfish I guess… One of my favourite small gags, I like to keep people on their toes and ask, because I’m an electrician, what do you call a female electrician? And the answer is an electrician, I always like to ask a male audience,” Caitlin smiles.

The after is Sarah Stewart, who appeared at last year’s CCF with The Women’s Room. This year, Sarah says they have all gone on to bigger and hopefully better things. In the past 12 months, Sarah has performed across the country and in London and was nominated for Best in Comedy at the 2023 Sydney Fringe Festival. Sarah draws on her 40 years of midwifery experience, retirement and month-long camping trips.

“I’ve come out the end of menopause and just looking forward to the last couple of decades of my life… I’m thinking about death, I’m very organised in my life, I want to be organised in my death, so I am planning my funeral. I’ve got my will sorted but I’m just fretting a little bit whether I’m going to find a coffin to fit me,” Sarah smiles.

Audiences will get to see the two women bounce off each other before each does their own set. They wanted to share the stage as they have great chemistry together, even though they are from different sides of the coin.

“We’ve got running themes throughout the show, a lot of feminism, we’re both mums but we’re both at very different points in our life as well, so there’s a lot of variety in there,” says Caitlin.

“Between the two of us, we pretty much cover the whole range of life. Whilst we’re two women and talking about life from the women’s perspective, there is also a lot of laughs and fun for the men as well,” says Sarah.

The solo sets help build confidence, Sarah explains that when you’re in a trio you get a certain amount of time each, then in a duo you get a bit more, each step working up to doing your set. The laughs also deliver important reminders for the audience.

“In terms of friendships, I’ve never thought of Sarah as being older than me or from a different generation, we get along so well we can get a beer and things like that. It’s celebrating the value of friendships at any stage in your life and that you can be friends with anyone,” says Caitlin.

“Although I do want to make it quite clear, I do not drink beer it’s a nice cold high-brow wine…For me, the message is very much you can get cheap coffins from Costco,” smiles Sarah.

As the first show sold out rather quickly, the duo is hitting the stage twice in one day with the convenient 4pm time slot.

“I’m quite excited about this time, it means people can come and see us at four, it’s an hour show and they can go and have supper and go home and have an early to bed,” says Sarah.

“We’ve got that second one and it is a more convenient time if you eat at dinner at 5:30, which I do,” says Caitlin.

Laugh with Caitlin and Sarah in Before and After at The Street Theatre on Saturday 16 March 4pm; thestreet.org.au

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