An Aussie living in New York, chasing a Broadway dream, sounds like a recipe for success, or disaster, or absolute Melbourne Fringe Festival gold. This October, the emotional snack Chip On Her Shoulder, starring Vanessa Buckley (Doctor Doctor, La Brea, Home and Away) will have its world premiere as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival. The brainchild of writer, producer, director Jen McAuliffe Chip on Her Shoulderis a clever one-woman play weaving a funny and painfully relatable story.
Read on to get both women’s perspective on the show
How would you describe your show to someone who knows very little about it?
Jen: it’s part confession booth, part stand-up, part messy theatre drama. It’s about the chaos of chasing your dreams while juggling work, grief, love, and all the little coping mechanisms that get you through — in Kate’s case, potato chips. It’s raw, funny, and painfully honest, and hopefully audiences will see themselves somewhere in the mess.
Vanessa: It is a one-woman show about survival. Kate is an Aussie in New York working double shifts as a nurse while chasing her Broadway dreams. She is funny, messy, self-critical and very human. Chips are her comfort, her joy and her shame, and through them we get to see her at her most vulnerable and her most hilarious.
What makes it stand out and why should people see it?
Jen: What makes it stand out is the mix of humour and heart. It doesn’t shy away from the mess, grief, coping, ambition, loneliness …but it also finds the absurdity and comedy in all of it. It’s the kind of show where you’ll laugh at the chaos and then suddenly recognise yourself in it. People should see it because it’s honest, a little unhinged, and reminds us we’re all stumbling through together… with our own chips.
Vanessa: Because it is honest. Kate says the things most of us only think. She is brutally funny and heartbreakingly vulnerable, often in the same breath. What makes it theatrical is the intimacy. She confides in the audience directly. It feels like being let into someone’s diary, only funnier, and I think people walk out feeling seen.
How long was the process from idea to writing to stage? Any challenges along the way?
Jen: It was a few months in the works. I developed it with my mentor, Steve Leff, and a lot of that time was spent finding the right balance between humour and drama. The challenge was making sure the comedy never undercut the truth of the story, and the rawer moments never lost their edge of humour. Getting that blend right was the key to bringing it to life on stage
Vanessa: I came on board as it grew legs for the stage. The process has been joyful, full of play and discovery. The biggest challenge has been stamina. it is physically and emotionally demanding but in the best possible way.
Please tell me something about what attracts you to New York and the Broadway story
Jen: “If I can make there, I’ll make it anywhere” Frank Sinatra once sung that about New York and I think that lives in all artists that go there – it’s the pinnacle ! The great artists that perform on the stage and create one of the best mediums of art!
Vanessa : New York has always represented that intoxicating mix of possibility and loneliness. You can feel completely alive and completely alone in the same moment, and that contradiction makes it such a rich backdrop. I felt something similar when I lived in London, performing at the Globe and also scraping through temp jobs.
How would you describe your relationship with the audience and what do you love the most about live performance?
Jen: I see the audience almost as a co-conspirator. Because the show is confessional and messy by nature, there’s this intimacy where they’re not just watching — they’re in on it. I love the unrepeatable moments of connect.
Vanessa : With this play, the relationship with the audience is everything. Kate speaks to them, confides in them, exposes herself in ways that are raw but funny. I love that in live performance, the audience is a character too. Their energy changes the show. That is the magic of theatre… it can never be repeated exactly the same way.
Who would you say has been your biggest inspirations?
Jen: I really admire Mary Harron, who directed American Psycho. At a time when so few women were behind the camera, she managed to take an intensely male story and bring a satirical, subversive edge to it. The many creative minds I encounter and the comedic artists like Seinfeld, Larry David, Mike Myers.
Vanessa: Every human I’ve had an intimate conversation with and as an overshare I’ve been blessed with many. Phoebe Waller-Bridge for her honesty and humour. Larry David for finding comedy in discomfort. And my peers the actors and creatives I have worked with who challenge and inspire me every day.
What are three things that would surprise people to learn about you?
Jen: I like really heavy metal music and do burlesque to it and I’m a big astronomy nerd.
Vanessa: I studied law before going to drama school. I once sold drains and grates on building sites for my brother. And although I am an actor, I am actually quite shy.
Tell me a little about what it’s like to perform a one woman show – challenges as well as thrills
Jen: As the writer, what excites me about a one-woman show is the intensity of it. The challenge is knowing you’re asking one performer to carry everything — the shifts in tone, the humour, the heartbreak, the silences. But that’s also the thrill, because it creates this raw, immediate connection between the performer and the audience.
Vanessa: It is the most demanding and the most rewarding thing I have ever done. There is nowhere to hide, but that is also where the joy is. I’m not in a world with other people.. I’m bringing a very personal story that I’ve had the privilege of knowing the motivations and intention of intimately to life with the audience I’m sharing it with. It’s the least self conscious I’ve ever felt weirdly. The focus has been on the story and the character only. The connection is direct, immediate
Finally, what would you like audiences to take away from the show?
Jen: I’d love audiences to walk away feeling seen in the messiness of life, and to give themselves a little grace for the ways they’re working on their healing and coping. If the show can spark recognition, compassion, or even just a laugh in the middle of it all, then that’s what matters most to me.
Vanessa: That we are all so much harder on ourselves than we should be. Kate is brutal with herself, yet audiences end up loving her for the very things she criticises. I hope people leave laughing, maybe a little teary, and mostly giving themselves the kindness they often forget to give.
This is a play for anyone ready for the laughs and emotional bonding or just because they happen to love chips. Not fries. Chips. Crispy, raw, go soft in your mouth chips. The kind of chips that, after too many, make your mouth sore, but you keep eating them anyway. Which is a bit like life. Chip On Her Shoulder will run from 7–11 October at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory in St Kilda as part of Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2025. Tickets available now.
melbournefringe.com.au
