[COMEDY/DANCE – NZ – SA PREMIERE]

 Secret Basement @ WEA, Mon 11 Mar

Joana Joy’s endearing blend of standup comedy and amusingly awkward dance provides a lovely backdrop for a journey through the mind of a self-confessed overachiever.

Hailing from New Zealand, Joana Joy is, like many of us, struggling to relax. The spectre of the grindset looms. Schedules grow tight. Mental space is in serious need of decluttering. Joy finds compelling causes in a number of places – trauma, capitalism, the irritating noise of undergrads with “vocal fry” – but navigates it for our benefit, as many comics do, through some fairly soft-touch comedy.

With a relatable swirl of anecdotes dealing with the futility of meditation apps, the scourge of middle children, and the dark attraction of the vape shop, Joy crafts a self portrait of her struggle to find a centre in a world ruled by overstimulation – the inability of everyday people and fossil fuel magnates alike to say “enough is enough”. The seamless blend of personal and social diagnosis rings sensible and true.

Though the show suffered a few first night jitters and some strained punchlines (Joy was refreshingly open about the fact that she was “still working it out” with the Adelaide audience), this is a sweet show worth the look.