Choo choo’ing onto the Athenaeum Theatre stage in a leopard print romper, stand-up comedian and podcaster Joanne McNally is greeted with a chorus of woos and whistles. “To us”, she toasts, gesticulating about the stage before pausing to notice an outlier: a man. “I don’t know what you’re doing here. A straight man? In the front row of The Prosecco Express?”
As you may have guessed by the show’s namesake, The Prosecco Express is more for the lassies than it is for the lads. It's well and truly an hour "for the girls" and what seemed to be the entirety of the Emerald Isle diaspora – and the occasional long-suffering boyfriend swept along for the ride.
The Prosecco Express was ideated by McNally in her mid-thirties when she was "single unfertiled" and found herself raising a glass to back-to-back marriages, christenings and communions. Where was she all this time? Going "barren" in Zara.
You can expect ruminations on this but more so, an hour of wine natter where McNally tackles everything from the pill to avoiding eye contact during sex (eyes are for family and friends, and family and friends only), UTIs and "Chornobyl-level" toxic boyfriends. And with each stinger of a one-liner, the audience is left weeping their mascara off with laughter.
McNally is an effervescently electric storyteller. In particular, her stories about living in her mum's attic in lockdown – which can often fall flat on Covid-weary audiences – left theatregoers swinging back and forth in giddy-eyed glee.
The Irish stand-up comedian and podcaster is a master of no-holds barred sort of craic; everything and anything is up for grabs. The show is a perfect excuse to rally the troops and pop a few bottles to celebrate womanhood and friendship. But remember, “we don’t celebrate love here at The Prosecco Express,” McNally reminded us, “this isn’t The Lion King.”
Catch The Prosecco Express at the Athenaeum Theatre between March 30 and April 9. Book tickets to see the performer on the Melbourne International Comedy Festival website.