Melbourne comedy festival review by Steve Bennett

With nothing more than her performance talents , Rama Nicholas recreates the atmospheric steampunk era of 1890s Olde London Town, where the swashbuckling Mary Weather has become a celebrated monster-hunter, slaying vampires, werewolves, swamp monsters and lugerbeasts, whatever they are.

 She transmogrifies between characters as quickly and effectively as any shape-shifter, from the likes of Percy Shelley and Lord Byron to the creatures of the netherworld.

Her accents - except perhaps the dodgy Scottish brogue - are so convincing that it comes as something of a surprise when her true Aussie voice is revealed at the end. 

The script itself isn't that funny, more a genre parody than bristling with brilliant lines, but Nicholas's compellingly exaggerated performance, a masterclass in skilled character work, makes it so. In fact, when she tries an anachronistic joke - about Donald Trump - it feels laboured - let alone shattering the mood with its anachronistic reference. Even breaking the fourth wall for a bit of playful improv, doesn't have the same spell-breaking effect.

Serving as an excellent showcase for Nicholas' talents, Mary Weather's Monsters is a expert slice of multi-character comic storytelling and a worthy sequel to her similarly adept fairytale-themed show from 2014, After Ever After.
 

Review date: 17 Apr 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett