Comedy review: Louise Beuvink in Ladylike: a modern guide to etiquette
Whenever I write reviews of comedy shows I don’t feel it’s important to mention that someone is a female comedian (if they are); I guess that’s because I don’t feel it’s important to mention that the 75% of comedians I see are male, however in Louise’s case it’s a bit different because her shtick is so gender-oriented.
Her show is Ladylike: a modern guide to etiquette and it’s really fucking good.
She’s unapologetically authentic and ranty and witty and funny and it’s a very good show. The show is largely built around how women should act in today’s world, tongue firmly planted in cheek.
She doesn’t really do audience patter, or warm us into the material she’s just there, straight away and into it.
Louise’s thing is not really jokes. She doesn’t do setup – punch, and her show is stronger for it. The odd time where she does fall back on the formulaic joke-telling format are some of the weaker moments of the show. Where she really blossoms is when she gets into a full-blooded rant with rapid-fire lines of hilarity bursting all over the audience one after the other. These moments feel real and unscripted and just the angry/amused musings of someone really fucking funny and the authenticity adds to the crackle of electricity she generates.
She has a musical number too which allowed her to show off a really strong singing voice, the song itself was funny, however comedy songs shouldn’t repeat the chorus too many times – once we’ve heard it and laughed the first time, it’s not really funny now, so maybe that could be edited back.
The audience loved her. We all loved her. She was very funny and we never felt like we were going to be let down with her. As mentioned above, some of the setup-punch gags were a bit too sign-posted and obvious and she could do with chopping these out as the show doesn’t need them. The long-form bits and the set-pieces are perfectly excellent on their own and require no filler between.
I feel very privileged that I was invited to review this show as it was sold out last night and I think that most of the season might be too, if it’s not you should totally get along. It’s a bloody good show.
Louise Beuvink in Ladylike: a guide to modern etiquette
BATS Theatre
5-9 December, 5pm and 8.30pm
$14-$20
