By Liam Shand Egan
Ashlee Brown’s ‘Millenial Fatigue’ is hilarious! This 23 year old’s piece about getting to the next stage of life is so wonderfully endearing and funny, I wanted to laugh louder than a theatre like The Container would probably allow. The content of the show is centred around the 3 things that Brown felt like she’d have sorted by this stage of her life: a happy relationship, a successful career and moving to a fabulous city. I defy anyone to say that these 3 goals aren’t tattooed deep within their subconscious because they are for me. I was hooked by the catharsis of the show and the genuine enjoyment that was on display on stage. All aspects of the show have passion and thought and really capture a simple truth: life is awkward and tricky no matter what part you’re up to. Given how endearing Brown’s performance is, the audience will begin to root for her and her defiance of painful circumstances. The success from her performance is that she isn’t pretending; she doesn’t have all the answers but she’s muddling through. That relatability will win you over immediately… that and she is a delight to watch on stage. Her physical acting is great and give off a sense of joy to be on stage. She’s the kind of comedian that I want see perform as often as I can. Brown’s jokes come from a real place: Perth. The story of her life is relatable and although there is tons of self-deprecation throughout the show, it’s clear that she has confidence in her abilities as a comedian, as she should. The ending of the show (no spoilers) is a piece that requires a lot of trust in their performance to attempt, let alone pull off. The seeding of the closing number throughout lets you know that this show is a wholistic piece that a ton of work was put into. Furthermore, the variety of the material; one-liners, long-form stories and musical numbers will surprise you with cackles all throughout the show. Some standup shows feel like you’re just hoping for the wheels not to fall off but ‘Millenial Fatigue’ makes you want to take the show for a spin one more time. The one issue is regarding her ‘risky joke’ that she told near the end of the show. It was funny and an awesome turn of phrase but I got the sense that she has ‘riskier’ jokes and I want to hear them because the one we got left me wanting more! Clearly, this isn’t a real complaint, but it must be known. Ashlee Brown’s ‘Millenial Fatigue’ is (as I said at the top) hilarious. I know I appear to be gushing over this show but it has all the things I look for in performance: relatable concept, likeable protagonist and hilarious execution. Sydney Fringe 2019 will be closing this Sunday and it behooves any audience to go see this show on Sunday before it closes. Congratulations to Ashlee Brown on a wonderful show and I look forward to her next work. ‘Millenial Fatigue’ will be having its final show on Sunday September 29th at the Factory Theatre.
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All opinions and thoughts expressed within reviews on Theatre Travels are those of the writer and not of the company at large.