12th April 2015 - 6:15 pm
Theis fancy, in fact all of the Arts Centre seems fancy when you walk in.
It also kills all phone reception.
Which means while waiting for the show to start I took copious amounts of rambling notes.
I hated the people who were standing next to me almost immediately because they tried to jump the queue. Considering it’s numbered seating I don’t know what the point was in trying to jump the queue.
It was a theme for the evening though. The people on my left it was discovered as more people arrived had decided to grab some better seats, (I was in second row from the front). But then the people with tickets to those seats arrived.
To the people behind me during the show...the reason I kept turning around is because you were twisting a plastic cup that made a squeaking noise every time.
The people who jumped the queue ended up being right next to me. And they were taking selfies while waiting. Sigh.
When Fiona O'Loughlin came out onto the stage I was struck by how graceful she looked. Composed and calm. I had seen Fiona before at live I Love Green Guide Letters and The Little Dum Dum Club shows. At those she was random, insightful and blisteringly funny and honest. Yet here, there was a grace and brilliance to her.
Fiona spoke of her boarding school days and early married life. Many of these stories I’d heard before. Fiona having related them on The Little Dum Dum Club and I Love Green Guide Letters. But life other shows like that I’ve seen by Wil Anderson, Tommy Dassalo and Steele Saunders all of whom have podcasts and have related stories on those, they were the original raw stories. In their shows they have the polish, flare and context for performance.
The audience, notwithstanding the selfie takers, cup fondlers and seat squatters were something of a mix. I and the selfie takers appeared to be some of the younger members. Actually if I’m honest I was older than the selfie takers. But I would guess that there were a lot of people who had experiences like Fiona’s Catholic upbringing or things like it. Just the way they laughed and related to her stories.
At the end of her show Fiona meets people outside to sign her DVD and to say "Hi". I almost went up. There were people hugging her and everything. But all I would have said was that "I saw you on the Little Dum Dum Club" and I have something of social anxiety / awkwardness and well, I just didn't want to queue up to say that. I just felt a little awkward so just left.
But I did enjoy Fiona's show and will most definitely see her again next year.