Frantasia

Frankie McNair presents her first solo show at this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. The comedian has been working hard, appearing around the country in the award-winning duo Sweaty Pits with Miriam Slater. Her performance of Frantasia sold-out in her hometown of Canberra.

While Sweaty Pits was fully sketch comedy, Frantasia is more stand-up, with a good seasoning of sketch. Her vision is to remind us of “the joy in play and the ridiculousness of life”. She harnesses this with hilarious and creative stories, enhanced with props and pop songs.

She also finds humour in sharing her life experiences as a queer woman and artist. As with Sweaty Pits, McNair again succeeds in making some poignant observations, in the most riotous and silly way. It’s wonderful to see McNair continue to hone her craft and bring her unique sense of fun and humour to Melbourne. The audience was in stiches!

The voice over becomes a character, heard but never seen. It seems to symbolise McNair’s own journey towards finding the courage to do her own solo show. This makes it a perfect show for Fringe, which is all about giving emerging artists the opportunity to develop and explore their art.

There were a few terms used I didn’t understand – must be something the kids say these days, I thought to myself, feeling old. My insecurities were alleviated when John Farnham’s You’re the voice came blaring through the speakers. Some classics can be appreciated by all of us.

Sophia Dickinson