At Malthouse Theatre from 13 to 24 April 2022
This review is of a video of the performance filmed in New Zealand on 26 March 2022.
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ***1/2
This review published only on this blog. KH
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| Morgana O'Reilly, photo by Amanda Billing |
In her solo comedy show, Stories About My Body, Morgana O’Reilly is charming, relaxed, animated and engaging and her stand-up material is confessional and pacey.
Her performance style is skilful, showing her actorly technique, and her comedy routine has dynamic range, emotion, truth-telling, confessional details and even some factoids and quotes from writers.
O’Reilly explains
her 13-year-old self’s dreams and anguish about her body at that age. She then then bounces
to the present and her 36-year-old self, now a mother, actor and adult woman who is
more accepting of her body. ‘My body is a friend,’ she says.
Her comedy is warm and playful and includes bits about boobs and stretch marks and vaginas and conception and dopamine and pretty feet and ankles and other bodily bits and functions.
O’Reilly jests
about her boobs changing after feeding two babies in the past seven years, but
she seems amazed and happy and proud that she has made two other whole bodies. So she should be!
What follows is more episodes from her life, including the hunt for work in New York City and her subsequent experience with foot fetishists – remember, she has very pretty feet – and their very specific peccadilloes.
Next come tales of burgeoning love and then her stories of childbirth, which are vivid and funny but perhaps a little laboured. Apologies for the bad pun.
O’Reilly played a character on Neighbours but that period in her life is almost totally omitted from this hour of cheerful comedy. Perhaps TV work will be the fodder for episode 2.
By Kate Herbert
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