By Suzanne Tate
The Evening Muse was described by Hannah Gadsby in their promotional videos as a “tonight show, wrapped up in a stand-up show, wrapped up in an existential crisis”. Apparently, Gadsby has been avoiding the world a little too successfully lately, and the structure of their most recent show is designed to provide some much-needed social interaction. This is achieved through some (intentionally?) awkward forays into ‘crowd work’ (Friday’s victims *cough* participants being Clare from Yorkshire and Nancy from Alabama) and a format that invites 2 festival performers to the couch each night to chat with Gadsby and answer Trivial Pursuit questions from 1981 – surprisingly effectively on Friday, as it happened. Friday’s guests were Mel Bracewell and Helen Bauer, who reflected on their performances earlier in the evening and competed in Trivial Pursuit to win a five-minute set at the end of the show, with Baur the victor.
The Evening Muse is very different to Gadsby’s past shows. The monologue is less polished and quite brief, and the interview and audience interaction components add a new spontaneity to Gadsby’s performance. What was still clearly present was Gadsby’s dry humour and quick wit, which kept the audience laughing.
There has been some kind of sculptural object on the stage for several of Gadsby’s previous performances, such as Dougal the dog. The stage for this show was quite cluttered, featuring a group of mannequins dressed in gold (I assume alluding to the ‘muse’ in the title, although they were not addressed), a bedazzled skull who I think may have featured a camera angle that we will see in the video special, as well as the ‘tonight show’ accoutrements – a desk, a couch, another comfortable chair, various end tables and an old school ‘applause’ sign. Visually, there was a lot going on, including giant googly eyes on the desk and signage. While the applause sign was used often after the guests came on stage, it wasn’t needed, as the audience was ready to be amused and entertained, needing no encouragement to reward Gadsby’s, and their guests’ humorous or satirical comments.
While personally, I prefer the deep topics and intelligent discussion found in Gadsby’s usual longer format shows over the more superficial nature of ‘The Evening Muse’, it remains highly entertaining. We can all do with a break from the seriousness, stress and complexity of the world at the moment, and Hannah Gadsby exploring their social side is a fantastic alternative.
