Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

For Kate Dehnert, Echo is a comedic smash room in which  she can unleash a raw, brutal, angry, bitter howl of righteous rage against the man who wronged her. The supposed ‘nice guy’ who cost her ten years of her life by abruptly ending their relationship as her pursued a younger woman, impervious to the damage he was wreaking.

And if success is the best revenge, this breakup show to end all breakup shows establishes Dehnert as a force to be reckoned with, a high-octane performer, dominating the space, who can swing from fury to silly in a beat. 

She claims this is a ‘petty’ hour, but no one who experiences it will ever side with her ex, a British-based comedian who in public projected a noble ‘white knight’ image of saying the right, feminist, things and giving women stage time on the nights he runs. 

However that respect seemed to expire behind closed doors as he started seeing an open spot, showing no empathy for Dehnert and the consequences of his selfish actions which ultimately forced her to abandon her UK career as her visa was tied to him. A dependency he seemed to exploit. He remains unnamed– though of course his identity is an open secret – and is here reduced to a panto villain, booed on cue.

The anger of the show is encapsulated in a relentlessly fast, pumping soundtrack that supercharges a dynamic delivery, both physically and vocally forceful. The backing music sometimes shifts to allow Dehnert to launch into a silly song  or change the emotional mood for a while. Simple but hugely effective lighting design also helps convey the torment as the comic’s life collapses around her. 

She starts her narrative in a genteel, Jane Austen-style wedding in the English countryside, giving us a glimpse of her character work, as she describes the romantic ideal that never happened. The guts of the story is sadly relatable – and covers common ground like ghosting and sex talk – but also darker areas such as suicide ideation as Dehnert surveys the nuclear wasteland that was once her life. But then there’s a lament to how the department store Myer has declined in her decade-longe absence from Australia or a discussion of how she can vomit on demand – so it’s not all glum.

In fact, none of it is. Dehnert has taken every ounce of her anguish and used it as fuel for this hypercharged diatribe, showcasing her considerable comic and performative  talents to maximum effect. Stuff that in your pipe and smoke it, <name redcated>.

• Kate Dehnert: Echo is on at Theory Bar at 9.30pm (8.30pm Sunday; extra show 5.45pm on the 16th) until April 19.

Review date: 15 Apr 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett