Lou Wall’s 2023 was great for their professional life and disastrous for their personal life. And after all the work Lou did coming out as a lesbian, they’ve found themselves swimming at the shallow end of the pool – sleeping with straight dudes. Even more distressingly, Lou became a chuckle fucker.
Lou’s brand
of opening up a vein of trauma and delivering it like a mutated powerpoint
presentation continues to be a next-level delight. Yes, this show is a list of
things Lou found funny during the best, most awful year of her life – but that
list is so chaotic, if there was no numbering system, you might think Lou was
having a full meltdown in front of you.
It’s hard
to compare Lou’s work to anyone else, because their delivery style is one-part
honesty, one-part masochism, five-parts musical with a side of online millennial
batshittery. When you’ve seen more than one of Lou’s shows, recurring themes
and interests and mental gymnastics (and the occasional re-used song) stand out,
but if you’re seeing them for the first time, it might take a bit to click into
their vibe.
I love Lou’s
work and The Bisexual’s Lament is one of their finest hours – such a shame
it’s built on a tough time for the comedian-singer-writer-performance artist. Because
you want to shout “more, more” but you also hope Lou has a better year this
year than last. Another success at MICF will help – so do not miss this! It’s a
kaleidoscope of tragi-comedy because Lou had no time to wait or waste making
their next show.
- Keith Gow, Theatre First
Lou Wall is playing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival until April 21.
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