Jude Perl has announced two new shows at Kew Court House this August. Read on for our review of this show from the Comedy Festival earlier this year.
Just whose bright idea was it to lock children in a room for 12 years and treat them all exactly the same, no matter their individual talents, interests and needs? And what happens to kids who are not suited to that style of education, or particularly good at the narrow range of subjects taught in that way?
Jude Perl has some answers to those questions (an advisor to the King of Prussia, in order to build compliant and efficient soldiers to fight Napoleon; and nothing good). The first answer might not be entirely accurate, but the second certainly is. Switching jackets to inhabit a pop star in a bullying PSA, herself in grade 3, a bully in her grade 3 class, a schoolteacher with boundary issues, and the aforementioned royal advisor, Perl has put together a show that’s smart, sharp, just a little bit sad and extremely, riotously funny.
She interacts with a multitude of recorded voices to bring the audience back to the cringe-inducing days of sport carnivals, slap bracelets and Lisa Frank-palette shell jackets. Her younger self might not be particularly good at running (or basketball, or maths, or…), but she keeps turning up anyway, and sometimes there’s a reward for that.
She’s an accomplished and funny actor, but Perl has an ultimate secret weapon: she’s an extremely talented singer-songwriter, heading to the onstage keyboard to belt out satirical pop songs that have the audience in stitches.
There are a lot of comedian-with-an-instrument acts in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, but Perl’s musical numbers aren’t just a vehicle for funny lyrics (though they are that, too). Perl has a voice that belongs in musical theatre, and she’s written genuinely catchy bops that will get stuck in your head. You’ll definitely leave wanting more, and then look up what you can on YouTube to enjoy more of her musical talent.