Review: Annie Boyle: Annie Are You OK?

If ever a Fringe comedy show felt like the distillation of an indie movie it’s this involving piece of storytelling from Australian Annie Boyle.

Standing largely still, her face for the main part impassive (she does make several jokes acknowledging this deadpan demeanour), she brings to life a night she spent in London’s Heaven nightclub, in anticipation of a Delta Goodrem performance.

We follow her as she enters alone, reads the graffiti on the toilet wall, finds the alcohol taking effect, locates her friend, and does some of the other stuff you might do in a gay club.

Throughout the story, she shifts back in time to share snippets of childhood in cattle country, and one particularly special cow called Madonna. And with the lightest of touches, she helps us understand how she’s feeling about the recent death of her mother, and how much she misses her.

The cleverness of the ending, with that almost ecstatic sense that it’s possible to at least feel like you’ve found what you came looking for, is sweetly understated. Grief is universal, and it can remind you of its power at any time. But there’s always comfort to be found in the memories of what we lost.