Review – Victoria Healy: Hello
Victoria Healy has been doing shows around Australia for five years, as well as a few trips to the UK and Canada. Most of her gigs have been as part of sketch and improve ensembles including the popular Impro Melbourne, so it’s good to see her do her own show in a nice central venue like the Imperial Hotel.
Those who know her from past solo spots at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Fringe Festivals from around the country can look forward to another season of her unique observational humour and personal anecdotes, with a side of the squirm-inducing comedy that’s become her signature.
Hello is a great show that touches on all the weirdness about the ways we greet each other, how we form first impressions, handshakes, hugs and all the rest. It’s really fun, original stuff, peppered with anecdotes and stories from her own travels and adventures over the last ten to fifteen years. There’s something disarming about her smile and her facial expressions – she does faces really well – that really gets the audience on her side. She does ‘go there’ with the odd bestiality gag, but it’s mostly about those little quirks and foibles that affect how we meet new people, and how we decide whether we like them or not (often in a split second). What I really liked about this show was that there was an element of audience participation, but it never got weird – there’s no danger in sitting in the front row when you go see Hello.
This is a great show for people of all ages; because the subject matter is so universal, nobody feels left out or has to wait for the rest of the audience to see whether they should laugh or not. It’s a great value show that should be on everyone’s MICF calendar.
Victoria is performing every night until April 20th.
