Theatreworks, Saturday 28th February 2026

I had seen this was on but was originally planning on going to the St Kilda Blues Festival and would be at one of the outside stages when this was on. Actually, getting to and going to some of the acts at the festival wore me out due to the humidity and crowds not only did I not feel like going to anything outside I also cancelled what I was going to do the next day and got an Uber home instead of taking the replacement bus. No mistake, I still took photos and saw the bands I wanted to see but as I am going to see Hussy Hicks in a few weeks anyway it wasn’t a total loss.

I had been meaning to see something with Rosie Roulette and one of the Nerdlesque productions for ages. I had lined up a show I was going to review for a website but as happened I got COVID and did not end up seeing it. I could just never get things to line up enough to see one of the shows. I do enjoy Rosie’s posts and seeing the shows being advertised though.

For some reason I thought this was only a one-hour show? Two hours out of the heat and humidity was better than one and I was already in the area when I booked the ticket (in the previous venue watching the second band) so it was not too hard for me to get there.

The last show I had seen at the venue (Body of Work) was a bit of an eye-opener so I was prepared for anything this time. Wasn’t as many people as the last show I saw there but they made up for it being very vocal and participating in the show to the point that the cast had to tell them off which was really funny.

For the show the audience got to yell out some character names which resulted in the trainer being called CUNTALICIOUS and the rival ARSE CLOWN also the Pokémon Charizard was called ANALLKEAKGE which I feel Nintendo would not allow in their games but as it was a fantasy no big deal. Also, the cast not corpsing and straight away using these names throughout the entire show!

Was great to see Rosie be the first one to come out and do the intro songs and some of the narration bits and even holding up a rogue sign that fell down and would not stay put (she did behind it). I did try and talk to her before the show and in the break but it was too busy. I did find out for the Pokémon 30^th anniversary if you search on Google, you can get a Poké Ball and catch them. She already knew this and had caught about half of them she said.

The overall show reminded me of a pantomime style production but with more adult concepts and the various burlesque acts throughout during the show breaking things up nicely.

The soundtrack was quite nice and recommended if you are a fan of Chappel Roan as Pink Pony Club got a fair ruin even if it was changed to something else. I also liked finally getting to see Rosie Roulette sing and she did not “Multi-pass out” like what happened when she did the opera signer from the Fifth Element one time.

Some of the cast had to go over to Adelaide Fringe for their shows so for the last couple of performances they got new cast members who seemed to go well. I would not have known unless you told me.

I did like the way the burlesque and drag were mixed through the show so it was not all one or the other. Team Red Rocket did kind of steal the show for the bits they were in though. Hopefully they get to come on board for other shows too.

The lighting and sound were great and I enjoyed the game of “Who’s that Pokémon?” where the first couple of answers were normal, then it went totally off course and had answers like SPIDERMAN.

Overall, this was a fun show and I was glad I managed to make it despite all the other things I had done on that day already. Evening was perfectly topped off by dinner at Topilinos, although no members of the cast from what I saw. Last time I saw a show at the Pride Centre, the entire family and relatives of one of the performers also turned up and we sat on one of the big tables out the back.

Show details:

Written, Directed And Produced By Rosie Roulette

Production Manager: Tea Vega

Assistant Producer: Heather Harlowe

Cast

Lucy May Knight (as The Trainer)

Adam White (as The Rival)

Darin Casler (as The Professor/Others)

Sy Quinn (as The Mum/Others)

Izzy Inyette (as Jesse)

Links:

https://www.instagram.com/pokelesque/

https://www.instagram.com/leagueofnerdlesque/

https://www.instagram.com/rosieroulette/