Rachel Tunaley’s “Recovering Eldest Daughter” was a riotous way to spend Saturday night. It was her first time performing in Sydney but not my first time watching her perform. I saw her show “Motion Sickness” in Adelaide Fringe in 2025 and absolutely loved it, so I was very interested in seeing what she had cooked up this year. The show’s description gripped me from the outset with mentions of mental illness and eldest daughter syndrome, and it did not disappoint. However, I do not think you need to be an eldest daughter to enjoy the show. It was cleverly Australian and relatable for anyone who has dealt with a perfectionist, overbearing, control freak in their life or just has a family really.
I attended with my housemate and we have both been dealing with another, departing housemate who has her share of mental illness and neurospiciness. “Recovering Eldest Daughter” was the collective, cathartic release we, and all the audience, needed. Rachel cleverly used audience participation to keep engagement and make it feel like a group therapy session. Her connection with the audience was electric and quips breaking the fourth wall were inspired, especially when she was admonishing us for laughing hard in a “serious” song or commenting that she couldn’t have “made it” since she didn’t have a full house. My housemate and I did not stop laughing through the whole performance.
Rachel used brilliantly simple lighting, staging and props to convey big ideas. I always love shows that use a projection to their advantage, especially in this age of social media. Recovering Eldest Daughter did this extremely well with real clips from Rachel’s life showcasing that she has always been a self-proclaimed “Drama Queen”, as well as lyrics for audience sing-a-long participation and really driving her points home visually. Straight away we knew who she was and where the show was going which is reassuring as an audience member. Voice over was also used to add layers and introduce us to other characters though it was just Rachel on the stage.
When I saw motion sickness (if I remember correctly) Rachel was using songs we knew but changing the lyrics to fit the story. This time, it seemed to be original music and that she has found her own voice and something more to say. The pace was perfect, it allowed you to really take in the message but we were not able to get bored. Rachel is a very talented performer with a powerful voice and not only for cabaret or musical theatre style tunes but busts out into rap too. Her dancing and physical comedy was hilarious and she really committed to the bit. “Intrusive thot” was a huge highlight for us, we even bought merch! Throughout the show, Rachel was very open and vulnerable, sharing quite a personal story about her journey to acceptance of her mental health diagnosis and work healing her inner child. Who knew it was as simple as a cheeky dopamine purchase!
I highly recommend seeing this show while Rachel is in Sydney, it’s a very professional and personal take on musical comedy and I think it won’t be long until she is off to Edinburgh!
To book tickets to Recovering Eldest Daughter, please visit https://tickets.qtopiasydney.com.au/Events/Recovering-Eldest-Daughter.
