Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

With her 2023 one-woman sketch show Lolly Bag, Hannah Camilleri established herself as a phenomenal comedy performer, fully losing herself in memorable characters defined to the tiniest detail.

She also brought the audience into some of the scenes, a technique she’s fully leant into with this follow-up, deploying all the ‘being in the moment’ training she’ll have picked up from her time at Gaulier clown school.

It’s a high-stakes strategy to put so much onto the shoulders of those she brings up on stage, but admirable in her ambition. However, the problem with high-risk manoeuvres is that they are not guaranteed to work…

This particular performance demonstrated both ways this can get unstuck. First she chose someone too petrified to contribute, then substituted her out for a volunteer way too eager to impose his own narrative and jokes on to the scenes, rather than going along with what Camilleri had planned, leading to something of a tussle for control of the show. 

While she handled this weird energy as best she could, patiently rolling with the punches while trying to nudge things back on track, it meant many laughs came from the awkwardness of how the show was being derailed rather than from its intended course. 

Which is a huge shame as the premise, especially of the defining early scenes, is full of ambition, intelligence and daring as Camilleri deconstructs then reconstructs the notion of what she’s doing with this all-in crowd work. That you can imagine how brilliant this audaciously meta scenario would be if it all fired as intended only adds to the frustration that it doesn’t.

Even hampered with an offputtingly peculiar dynamic, Camilleri still shines in her character work, from the naturalistic girl on a date from these opening scenes to an old favourite, her crotchety uptight teacher. Meanwhile, a doddery waiter, perhaps inspired by Julie Walter’s character in Victoria Wood’s Two Soups sketch, gives full rein to Camilleri’s talent as a physical comedian, with a perfectly executed slapstick moment. Her worker finding an exposed manhole again shows the rounded credibility of her alter-egos, even if it wasn’t entirely clear what was the intended result of the audience interaction in this sketch.

Camilleri’s reputation as a formidable character act can only be burnished by What I’m Going For – and full marks for taking the risk on a more daredevil approach to her work – even if the execution can be (and, in this case, was) upended by the interactions that are so crucial to the outcome.

Review date: 3 Apr 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Melbourne International Comedy Festival