Baby Shower

On another perfect Darwin night under the stars, the 37 weeks pregnant Ms Hetherington took to the stage, immediately winning our hearts with her megawatt smile and personality, before embracing our mask-wearing, COVID-anxious souls in the theatrical equivalent of a bear hug. And from that moment, we were all hers.

Baby Shower is a little gem of a show that races through its hour-long run time – maybe because, with her midwife standing by in the audience, the hilarity and activity may have become too much for her very soon to be with us baby.

Unlike some comedians who cruelly skewer unfortunate family members, Hetherington – who refreshingly never takes herself too seriously – embraces her Mum, Dad and her civil engineer boyfriend’s idiosyncrasies along the journey with her through the balancing act that is pregnancy. There are some fun riffs on how being pregnant impacts on your body and your senses and on what it will be like to eventually raise a child in Hetherington’s beloved Darwin.

Danielle Andrews and Eve Lynch make an irreverent guest appearance as zany Kegel exercise (‘Kegel Jazzercise’) instructors. The Kegel craze, in case you weren’t aware, aims to strengthen pelvic muscles, and Andrews and Lynch stopped the show with their tremendously camp musical interlude. And when the pregnant lady chorus line appeared, each dressed in matching black pregnancy lingerie to perform All the pregnant ladies (‘put your bumps up!’), Baby Shower took on an almost Mel Brooks’ The Producers-inspired hilarity.

If there had been a better way to break loose after our momentary lockdown than this delightful hour under the stars with Ms Hetherington, then I would like to know what it might have been.

Geoffrey Williams

Pictured: Amy Hetherington. Photographer: Flowpyre.