Ruby Teys was a “gunna” for the last couple of years for me, considering it took me SEVENTEEN YEARS to finally see Die Roten Punkte I thought I better get a wriggle on I am not going to be alive that long! I even saw her talking to her other cast members before a show outside at the Melbourne Fringe last year and talking to someone eating a pie at the door at the start of ALT GRL WRLD at the same festival when I was going to the dunny after Global Smash Club so I had almost made it. Not withstanding interactions on social media as that is just being nice and a usual part of doing business.

I arrived at the show late with a half-eaten Zinger box, which turned out to be the perfect way to experience the show as Ruby had technical issues necessitating a do-over of the show’s introduction and she had started late. I think she needs to take her MacBook out to Chadstone to get it looked at as it stuffed up in the show after too. Either that or don’t rely on the internet connection in these pox little rooms as signal gets blocked too easily especially since the 3G switch off I can tell you I can’t even get signal on the train reliably.

The show follows the story of Cherryl Vinyl from being blasted out of her hole in Coober Pedy by “not Gina Reinhardt” to seeking fame and fortune on the Gold Coast and her becoming Kerry Packer’s “favourite” showgirl. There is a lot of weird stuff in the show, I did not really see it as Ruby breaking character in the change overs, I expect there is stuff in this show that actually happened but people would not actually believe if they told it in a normal narrative show.

Some might see the Ivan Milat joke as poor taste and even John Jarratt expressed alarm at Malcolm Douglass trying to pick up a backpacker 300km outside of Broome who turned him down cold! “A friend of a friend” did actually get picked up by Ivan Milat who lost interest after hearing that he had a good relationship with his dad and people would go looking for him.

Ruby said she would be taking another joke involving priests out of the show, but it fit with the 1993 aesthetic. Not like you need a Whoopi Goldberg introduction like they did on the Looney Tunes DVDs. Supposedly if you go to Perth it is a lot different though? Are some ingenious comedians who get frustrated with Melbourne audiences “you’re allowed to laugh!”

To say the show was “somewhat chaotic” would be putting it mildly! Half-eaten Zinger boxes and Ruby running into the back wall, jumping on audience members, wardrobe malfunctions and technology failures not-withstanding. I know quite well about “theatrical” productions and character creation. Having taken someone to a show where it turned out they pulled a tape measure out of their vagina onstage I would say it was not extreme as that. More like half way between cabaret and more of like a Moira Finucane production but not with the milk flying into the audience.

There’s a certain “type” of audience that would like these sorts of shows more than the straight stand up show. I would have expected this show to be at the Butterfly Club for a much shorter run as I have seen previous shows with this vibe like MOTORBOAT or the ASMR Party show but obviously they are having a big swing at it this year.

I would recommend this show if you are wanting something a bit different than a normal stand up or structured narrative show and are prepared for a bit of chaos along the way.

Rating: 4/5

Show Details:

All Tix: Thu $25.00 / Fri & Sat $28.00 / Sun $25.00

Preview: All Tix $22.00

Tightarse Tuesday: $22.00

The Greek – Aphrodite @ 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Duration: 60 minutes

Advisory:

Suitable for audiences 18+

Language – occasional coarse language

Nudity

Strong sexual references

Link:

https://www.instagram.com/rubyteys.tropicalversion.mp3

Tickets:

https://www.comedyfestival.com.au/browse-shows/ruby-teys/