Review by Steve Bennett

It may be an odd adjective to use for a woman, but Julia Morris is distinctly camp.

Hers is a routine that regularly name-drops fashion labels, is couched in over-extravagant catchphrases and drips with acidly bitchy asides. You can almost hear it being delivered by an outrageous queen.

It may be masquerading as stand-up, but this is really character comedy. Morris gets the laughs from her over-the-top reactions to everyday occurrences - almost like a latter-day, antipodean Lady Bracknell - rather than the observations themselves.

And that's a good job, as it has to be said that some of her targets are otherwise pretty tired - isn't Birmingham a dump, isn't it odd when you take drugs that sort of level.

This approach is a bit of an acquired taste, and does divide the audience to a certain degree. About half seemed to revel in the experience, and vociferously so, others seem a little more bemused by this fast-talking Aussie.

And no review of Morris can fail to mention that distinctive mach three delivery, in which words spew forth in a heckler-resistant wall of thoughts with no more than two full stops in the whole hour.

At the end off all this, though, is a true show-stopping finale. It's an old idea, over-miming to a backing track, but Morris contorts her face in the most incredible demonstration of gurning, making this an hilarious jewel of physical comedy.

Review date: 1 Jan 2001
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett