By Chenoah Eljin
Too often you see a comedian and go home thinking: I could do that. Kate Dolan’s Trout leaves precisely the opposite impression: awe. What Dolan has crafted is a proper performance end-to-end with movement, music, visuals and jokes layered thoughtfully one upon the next. She doesn’t stand at a mic and tell you how it is, she somehow dances, sings, does high kicks, character voices and the odd, possibly accidental, Scottish accent – seemingly at the exact same time.
Dolan’s humour is crafted and smart, but even if a joke doesn’t land as intended here or there, her intense and vibrant energy gets the audience on side from the very first second and keeps them captivated until she leaves the stage. It almost doesn’t matter what she’s talking about, because she is a glorious spectacle and bearing witness to her commitment and effort is a privilege in its own right. I’d pay to watch Kate Dolan read the V-line replacement bus announcements at Southern Cross Station. I’d also pay to watch Kate Dolan just dance. She has training and talent, even if that career trajectory didn’t pan out as her childhood self would have liked. Very rarely can you say you enjoy a comedian in equal measure both when they are talking and when they are not talking.
Trout has some heavy topics. Dolan is not the first stand up to have battled mental health issues and talk about it on stage. But she walks the line better than most, keeping her audience laughing out loud uproariously whilst also making them feel seen. Never have I heard a PMDD joke told so well that the male audience members can be heard talking about how relatable Dolan’s experience was as they leave the theatre.
Dolan is the next big thing. Or more precisely the Now Big Thing you might not have heard about yet. Last year she won the Golden Gibbo Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Skinny-Fest “Besties” Breakthrough Award at Edinburgh Fringe. The year before, Adelaide Fringe gave her the Emerging Artist Award. By next year’s festival you will be paying three times as much to see Dolan perform. It’s an early call, but a safe bet, that Kate Dolan’s Trout is *The Show* of this year’s Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Now is your chance to see something truly unique, genuinely captivating, and deeply human.
