one4review | On 07, Aug 2022

I’m not convinced I have a secure grasp of all of what went on in this show, but it was full of energy and good fun. Ms Pilkes arrived late, though managed to get herself ready with some assistance from the audience, and from there the show attempted to start several times, and hilarity ensued.

Ms Pilkes is a consummate character comedian, with a strong dose of audience participation thrown in for good measure. This is not a show for anyone who prefers the comedian to stay on stage and the house lights firmly off. An audient was briefly motorboated by a puppet. Others attended a beer-tasting session. If such participation fills you with horror, maybe avoid this show.

On the other hand, if it doesn’t, this show entirely fulfils the brief of ‘do stuff to make folk laugh’ for an hour, even if you might wonder at points how, both philosophically and narrative-ly, you ended up here, with this particular character. Those characters are well defined and differentiated, presented with such confidence and ease that you forget that the ‘real’ Ms Pilkes will be back in a few minutes to start the show.

A sign on the stage invites the audience to contribute to the show before it starts, and Ms Pilkes delivers a heartfelt monologue at the end, both explaining and concluding the show and making the audience part of it for one final time, before she, and her boundless energy, departs.

Reveiwed by Laura

Underbelly Bristo Square
19:15 (not 15th)