one4review | On 19, Aug 2022

Ms Ellen tells us a story with detours about her encounters with various creeps of the world, and it’s perhaps these experiences which give her the skills to firmly but nicely to tell the heckler to shoosh. I was impressed: heckler silenced, expectations set, and the rest of the audience remain on side.

Ms Ellen is an energetic, exuberant performer, with some excellent observations and commentary on the all-too-common experience of terrifying – or at least worrying – situations women find themselves in with men. She shares stories on various different ways this has happened to her, though her comic sensibility is such that this most certainly isn’t a gloom-fest (it is in fact highly entertaining and amusing). By her own admission, she doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions to the problem, but the one she does suggest is pleasingly ridiculous and makes for a delicious finale.

Ms Ellen is an excellent performer; the show has good pace and flow, and she keeps us engaged and interested from start to end. Minor refinements could be made – the tale of the Uber doesn’t quite work – but this is a good fun show addressing weighty topics.

Reveiwed by Laura

Underbelly Bristo Square
16:15