Review – Aunty Donna

From the foyer of the Tuxedo Cat (now on tucked away Hyde St), you are led outdoors and into a health food store-slash-trendy restaurant, and on its second floor are six rows of about twelve seats, lit in blue light. As you climb the stairs, the sounds of the people shuffling in around you are dampened by an audio track in which a number of men are repeating the word ‘bubble’, as you see a slide projector projecting ‘Bubble.’ in white text on a black background. Bubbles begin to emanate from sidestage. It’s all very atmospheric. Really, you could leave at this point and it’d still be worth the ticket price.

Comedy linked together by a somewhat surrealist bent is too often compared to the Mighty Boosh, which is frustrating, because Aunty Donna are actually quite comparable to the Mighty Boosh. Known by many through the ABC series ‘Fresh Blood’ (where their sketches were mentored by the rock and roll nerd himself, Tim Minchin), and known by my friends for ‘that one sketch where they fight like kangaroos’, Aunty Donna are exciting, bold, and different.

Using their capacity to create atmosphere, they dance deftly between sketches, and in the process they quickly and effectively create spaces where skits, wordplay, audience participation, dance, observational bits, mime, music, murder, Red Riding Hood, and religion all kinda make sense. Basically, they’re everything you need from a night out.