Tuesday 9 April 2019

Myths and Legends - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Winner of Best Newcomer 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Danielle Walker returns to the festival with Myths and Legends, in which she shares a variety of stories that she has experienced or conjured up in her imagination.

There is a playful mischievousness to Walker as she opens the show around the myth that a sneeze equals one-eighth of an orgasm. It sets the scene nicely as it has us wondering what other surprises Walker will have in store on her unsuspecting audience. Unfortunately, there are not many.

While Myths and Legends has its moments, the majority of the show never amounts to anything beyond your standard stand-up with jokes and punchlines forgotten as quickly as they are told. This could be because her scope is so wide, there isn't anything linking her stories together, removing the opportunity for rewarding callbacks and therefore not giving the stories a reason or purpose to stay in our minds.

Despite this, Walker has some great rapport with the audience and this comes mainly from her unassuming confidence in talking to a large crowd. Her story involving a pelican attack at her work is a highlight, not only in its content but also in her ability to grab an audience's attention. Walker also has a TV screen set up to display drawings she's made based around her material, which adds a nice visual element for audiences to appreciate.

Myths and Legends may make for a fun evening this festival but a few days later you can be hard-pressed to recall why. As Walker develops her comedy career, she should be able to find her voice and look at setting up an over-arching storyline or theme to create a stronger connection with her audience.

SHOW DETAILS 

Venue: Victoria Hotel, 215 Lt. Collins St., Melbourne
Season: Until 21 April | Tues - Sat 7:15pm, Sun 6:15pm
Length: 60 minutes 
Tickets: $26 - $29 Full | $24 Conc and Tightarse Tuesday
Bookings: MICF website

No comments:

Post a Comment