Date of Review: 18/02/26

Rating: 4.5 stars

There’s the cliche of art imitating life and The Pole Shebang is a pure feel good production that is anything but a still life portrait . Presented as a one woman show by Andrea James Lui, it is a fun and engaging hour that is part storytelling and part pole dancing as physical theatre. Lui uses the theme of her pole dancing journey as a metaphor for her life and playfully interrogates her identity through supposedly being invited to participate in the world pole dancing women’s championships.

This show is “cute” rather than the normally erotic assumptions about pole dance performances and performers, told from the perspective of pole dancer rather than the gaze of the audience. Andrea is a multitalented dancer, martial artist and theatre kid nerd from an Asian family with a neurospicy bent to it. I appreciated her talking about how her neurodiversity plays into her creative process. Executive dysfunction isn’t a joke until she makes it a damn fine one.

Lui gently prods the social constructs such as the Asian kid trope, on being a girly girl and tests the cultural assumptions around pole dancing that have shaped her. I am a neurodiverse individual that found Andrea joyful and highly relatable but I think that Lui shouldn’t be afraid to hit her comedic moments fully because it’s fantastic material. You don’t need to know anything about pole dancing or neurodiversity or being Asian to understand what Lui is talking about in the show.

She is an adept storyteller, a strong athlete and I love that she is open to exploring parts of herself with a honest and vulnerable sense of humour. She should own her own ferocity and trust in her spirit Pokemon fully. This show is perfect for those who want some light laughs and a good yarn after a long day.

Show run:

18-22, 25-28 Feb, 1 Mar at 6:50PM @ Fool’s Paradise – The Lab.

Tickets available:

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/the-pole-shebang-af2026

Website: <https://andreajameslui.com>

Words by Clara Santilli, 19/02/26