Show reviewed: 04/03/26

Show rating: Not the worst review so far, 4 stars.

Sweeney Preston is a charming millennial from Australia looking for love while also failing dismally at catching the attention of women in the age 20-30 years old age bracket and local to Melbourne (his relationship status at the time is unknown). And no, ladies, I don’t have his phone number…Sweeney is, by self declaration, “Australia’s worst journalist” based on the fact he was entirely unqualified to be giving advice on relationships. There is even an extensive PowerPoint presentation to prove his claims to it given he was writing about relationship trends while his own dating life was a shambles.

They say those that can’t do, become advice columnists (or fringe reviewers!) I guess it takes ten thousand hours to become proficient at a skill so I guess he has some time to put in mastering relationships however, the casual academic in me gives him an A+ and a cookie for that PowerPoint. That’s some good slides there and it proves going into student debt to go to university was totally worth it.

Preston is an energetic comedic storyteller who has created a well structured narrative that explores the in(nuedos) and outs of being single in a time we are connected by so much technology. In the academic world, when a researcher is in the field and part of an experiment, it is dubbed “active participant research.” It feels a little bit like this as Sweeney delves into the depths of his love life and dating history with a masochistic glee and I was at no point bored or drifted off. He has a rare clarity of perspective that allows him use self deprecating humour in a way that comes across as funny, rather than desperate.

With almost a decade of experience in reviewing the Adelaide Fringe under my belt, I like to fancy I have developed an uncanny instinct for the cultural trends driving audience selection of what shows will be popular in any given festival. This was an instinct that served me well in my past life as an aspiring academic. However, sometimes, it gets me into trouble every now and then, this year, I have found myself seeing shows themed along romance and relationship fails that could be taken from my own life. The loneliness epidemic seems to be a universal phenomenon and it’s refreshing to see a cisgender male perspective on dating & love that wasn’t derogatory to women or men.