Although it might be a Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) ruling that only blokes who are unlucky in love are allowed to appear at the event, a married couple named Zara and Troy Swindells-Grose have managed to defy the geek edict.
Zara and Troy were charming and funny in their MICF show, “LoveLife”.
The very blonde husband and wife used catchy songs and deft characterisations to mock the totally deserving of being mocked self-help movement.
“I’ve read them all, but I’m still a mess” was the sharp assessment of the works of gurus like Anthony Robbins, Dr. Phil and Deepak Chopra.
Before coming to the sensible conclusion that you may as well love life even though it has ups and downs, the pair discussed such dodgy paths to happiness as the permanent smile and composing the script to your own life.
Of course, as Troy correctly pointed out if we could really do the latter we’d all write down that we’ve won huge amounts on Lotto.
On the way the audience was introduced to, among others, a duo who seemed to believe the path to positive relationships was to always think those around you are about to die and a pitiable self-help addict called Rachael.
Apparently Zara and Troy have been married for fifteen years, which should have resulted in numerous jokes about the nagging missus and her impotent old man.
While there was a bit of taking the mickey out of each other, the twosome displayed a warm respect for one another and a lovely rapport.
Even if the songs sounded a tad repetitious and some of the lines fell flat, it was, to use the Barry Humphries phrase in a non-satirical way, “a nice night’s entertainment”.
Hip comedy with a dark edge it wasn’t, but “LoveLife” was a very enjoyable production staged by charismatic performers (and their talented musical accompanist).
“LoveLife” is playing at MICF until the 29th of April. For booking details, go to the MICF website.