Hannah Gadsby - Hannah Wants a Wife

The success of certain standup shows depends almost entirely on whether or not as, an individual, you relate to the person telling the jokes. This is one such show, a gentle meander through the current preoccupations of an academically-minded, 30-something Australian lesbian, which yields rewards if you don’t come expecting a laugh-a-minute. If you share any of Hannah Gadsby’s primary interests—art history, gender and sexual politics—you’ll find plenty to enjoy here; and even if you don’t, you may still be charmed by Gadsby’s relaxed, matey demeanour and disarmingly dry wit.

Gadsby starts—promisingly or alarmingly, depending on your mindset—by introducing us to the Arnolfini portrait, that well-known 15th century painting of a couple standing in their bedroom, littered with apparently symbolic details. Gadsby acquaints us with these details using Powerpoint slides, pausing to observe, for example, that St Margaret, a carving of whom stands above the wardrobe and who is the patron saint of childbirth, dying in childbirth and kidney stones, was essentially “the patron saint of squeezing stuff out.”

Gadsby had apparently seen this portrait printed on an anti-gay marriage pamphlet, so this is a roundabout way of introducing us to some mildly political stuff about gay politics and her current personal mission to find a wife. This material is a little more obvious and not as strong; Gadsby is on more interesting ground when she returns to her historical musings, like pondering what era it would be best to travel to as a “time travelling lesbian.” But she’s certainly good and entertaining company for an Edinburgh hour.