Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Numbed by grief for her mother, Annie Boyle glides half-dazed through a London nightclub, talking to strangers but never connecting with them, her mind on a different plane.

That’s the premise for the comic’s Melbourne debut, and it’s an ambitious one. For while she effectively recreates her emotional detachment from her surroundings on that otherworldly night, the mood also creates a distance between herself and her audience that’s difficult to bridge.

Certainly don’t go expecting a laugh riot, rather this is a series of semi-abstract scenes such as Boyle trying to joke her way past the humourless bouncer, some gentle flirting with another clubber and chatting with the DJ whose name seems apt given the venue’s called Heaven. In her semi-functioning mind they all manifest as characters from an animated film hit… and by the end we can all see them, too.

All this builds up to an appearance by Delta Goodrem on the Heaven stage. Boyle has photographic evidence of herself in that moment, an image which opens this show, in which the comic doesn’t look entirely delighted to be there.

Comparisons with Fleabag might be inevitable, given the grief and the fact it’s a female-led narrative that’s honest about the feelings behind each encounter – though it’s less punchy than Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s magnum opus. In her stand-up, Boyle is deadpan and unmoving, and she brings that same energy - or lack of it - to this piece.

That’s a difficult obstacle to get around, making it hard to fully engage, despite the obvious creativity Boyle brings to this retelling. But fair play for trying something different for her first festival hour.

Review date: 8 Apr 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival