Felicity Ward: The Hedgehog Dilemma

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The course of hedgehog love never did run smooth. Sigmund Freud outlined the problem in his ‘Hedgehog Dilemma,’ an analogy for human intimacy. In winter the animals can either huddle together, jabbing each other with their spines, or go it alone and risk freezing to death. Australian comedienne Felicity Ward was one such prickly customer who decided to get sober, leave her fiancé and venture out into the cold.

Dressed in her unused wedding gown, Ward is a high-energy Miss Havisham, bounding through her most depressing moments with glee. Everything from her heartbreaks to her alcoholism are dispatched with a fizzy smile. A physical but exact performer, she has an awareness of her limbs and facial expressions that rivals a puppeteer. This is coupled with a filthy sense of humour and eye for a telling character trait. Even without the angst, this is an exceptionally funny show that does not waste a moment. 

Indeed Ward has honed this hour until every sharp edge has been sanded down. In other hands this slick approach might be impersonal, but here it makes the moments of emotion more affecting, more rewarding. Hedgehog Dilemma never feels self-indulgent because Ward never stops indulging the audience, explicitly pandering to their love of stupid gags and cute animal pictures.

This is sharp comedy with a loveable core. Considering the topics covered, one might expect Ward simply to curl up into a ball and play dead, but she doesn’t. Being around her should be painful, and yet she makes herself so thoroughly appealing.