The show opens with a young woman centre stage, gagged and blindfolded, her feet tied together and her hands handcuffed above her head. But don’t get too excited; the rather racy mood is instantly broken by the muffled strains of the damsel singing through the gag as she hops around trying to release herself. The damsel in question is Sophie Walsh-Harrington, winner of the Adelaide Fringe Best Cabaret Award 2011, and she’s here to tell us a story of heartbreak and international travel through the media of song, dance and melodrama. In fact, the search for melodrama in one’s life is the focus of the show, with a narrative taking us on a journey through Sophie’s outlandish life choices and multiple failed romances. She has a wonderful voice and utilises its power to tackle some challengingly emotional ballads. Quite literally bursting into song in the middle of an anecdote, she lends her heartbreak an epic quality which enriches the monologue, veering between the sublime and the ridiculous. Despite this, the songs could be more carefully chosen, as they’re neither instantly recognisable nor that relevant to her story, which doesn’t help a show which already suffers from lack of unity. Indeed, the story is quite baffling: it teeters on the edge of believability, comically exaggerated and yet at times quite serious, leaving the audience unsure how to react. The fact that we are not sure what exactly we’re watching - fact or fiction, comedy or tragedy? I still don’t know - means that ultimately she doesn’t keep us with her on her voyage of personal discovery. For this reason, and also because of her awkwardness as a comic performer, she misses out on laughs. She is a great entertainer, however, and her peculiar blend of dramatic skill and a heightened sense of the absurd leave us amply satisfied.

Reviewer:
Eleanor Lischka

Eleanor Lischka has written 11 reviews for Broadway Baby since joining the team in 2011.