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Perth Comedy Festival: Daniel Muggleton – You May Be White, I May Be Crazy

18/05/2025 Manuela Kacomanolis🥈🎭

Daniel Muggleton – You May Be White, I May Be Crazy Rating

★★★★★

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Daniel Muggleton is no stranger to comedy. Having been in the business for more than 10 years, his observational comedic style was a hit with the audience at the Goodwill Club of The Rechabite for the 2025 Perth Comedy Festival.

His show You May be White, I May Be Crazy covered an array of topics from the controversial Welcome to Country acknowledgements to living in London, disputes with his wife and fatherhood. Which given the title of his show, it was not what I was expecting.

One of my favourite parts of the show were his footnote disclaimers. He would say something that may be a little contentious, for example, he said he would raise his newborn son to be gay because society has become too woke and now it’s too difficult to teach him how a ‘real man’ is ought to behave. After having said that he would sit at the edge of stage stating his newborn son is not actually gay. Then he would standup again and continue with the show.

His crack at politicians was also gold. I think it’s fair to say that most Australians are quite familiar with our Prime Minister mentioning his ‘special friendship’ with the President of the United States yet Muggleton likened the friendship to knowing a girl you like but she doesn’t even know you exist.

As Australians, we love to poke fun of ourselves so when he mentioned about the difficulty some immigrants have in trying fit in with the Australian culture and wanting to make an effort, the crowd roared with laughter when he said that’s the whole problem. Making an effort, when as Australians, we prefer not to. That is what he did best, his critique of Australian culture.

There was so much Muggleton covered in his show which a lot of the material resonated with the audience last night. He doesn’t stick with one thing too long. You can also tell he does his research in the town he’s performing in because he was quite knowledgeable about Perth traffic in comparison to his hometown of Sydney.

If he’s ever in town and you need a good laugh, Muggleton will not disappoint.

For information on upcoming Daniel Muggleton tour dates, please visit https://danielmuggleton.com.au/.

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Perth Comedy Festival: Rohan Arneil – The Never-Ending Smoko

17/05/2025 Manuela Kacomanolis🥈🎭

Rohan Arneil – The Never-Ending Smoko Rating

★★★★★

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Sydney based comedian Rohan Arneil was in town for the Perth Comedy Festival performing upstairs at the Chorus Room of the Regal Theatre.

With the entrance to the Chorus Room tucked to the side around the main entrance of the Regal Theatre, we made our way up the winding stairs. We knew we made it to the little theatre because the sign displayed said “You’ve Made It”.

It is an intimate space with a small stage fitted with red velvet curtains. With festive moonlights strung up above the audience, Rohan hilariously noted that if there’s any lighting, it should be directed at him, not the audience.

Rohan is a relaxed stand-up comedian taking sips of wine and flavoured water throughout his show with plenty to say about anything and everything. At the start he touched quite a lot on money which he even acknowledged he would be talking about for a fair amount of time. I found it quite refreshing for a person to be talking about a topic which can seem a bit taboo in society or impolite to talk about.

He also got the crowd laughing with his work as a stonemason and how with technology rapidly evolving the profession doesn’t seem so lucrative as it once was 5 thousand years ago, and acting as a mentor to young guys at Tafe which he refers to his Good-Will Hunting moments.

Rohan is a talented comedian. He’s able to move seamlessly from one top to another without losing the attention of the audience.

He knows how to work the crowd, which for most part of the show it was as if you were at a friend’s house having a few drinks and this friend is re-telling funny stories of his life.

Reverting back to money, he wrapped-up his performance by taking a call from his Uber driver telling the audience he had to rush to another gig to get his $400.

The Perth Comedy Festival runs from 21 Apr to 18 May. To book tickets to a show, please visit https://www.perthcomedyfestival.com/.

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Perth Comedy Festival Gala

09/05/2025 Manuela Kacomanolis🥈🎭

Perth Comedy Festival Gala Rating

★★★★★

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As the Perth Comedy Festival is currently in full swing, the biggest night of comedy for the festival was the Perth Comedy Festival Gala at the Regal Theatre with a line-up of international and Australian comedians. It was a showcase of 11 comedians giving the audience a taste of each of their shows.

Sean Woodland did a fantastic job as the MC getting the audience warmed up and it was a full house.

The first comedian was Ivan Aristeguieta all the way from the US. Ivan is Venezuelan married to an American woman. His perception of what he finds sexy was hilarious and it involves her having a Medicare card, not her salsa dancing.

Young Australian female comedian Sez had the audience chuckling at the funny side to her dyslexia and bisexuality.

LA resident John Wynn who grew up in Waco Texas but is of Vietnamese heritage was quite clever on his reasoning as to why couples are often referred to as “partners” which has to do with couples acting as detectives to find out why the wife is unhappy.

For those who enjoy a dry sense of humour, Australian Luke Heggie delivered that in spades. It’s common for comedians to talk about their family in their comedy acts and Luke was no different, especially regarding his wife and step-children. I think a lot of men in his situation would relate to his content.

Perhaps the quirkiest comedy act I have ever seen was Elf Lyons. The British comedian leapt onto the stage as though she was a character from a Hitchcock film in a monologue style, so she didn’t engage directly with the audience like the other comedians. Her performance was very theatrical and melodramatic, but I didn’t really understand most of what she was saying. However, I loved her gorgeous cocktail dress.

Another Californian, Ian Bagg absolutely roasted the front row. Joking that the older audience members most likely didn’t even pay full price for their tickets.

In the second half of the show, there were two Scottish comedians, Grant Mushet and Connor Burns, Englishman Kieran Hodgson and Aussies Chris Ryan and Sammy J. Grant Mushet tapped into Scottish culture for his take on parenting with a wonderfully wicked dry humour. Sammy J is quite well known within the Australian comedy scene using his piano-playing skills and song to relay his comedic talent.

Chris Ryan was hilarious in her impersonation of stall vendors. I always love a good impersonation. Another impersonator was Kieran Hodgson of Donald Trump who hit the mark with the mannerisms and the accent, and donning a red tie to top it off.

The final funny person of the night was another fellow Scotsman, Connor Burns, who got into Aussie slang.

Just as entertaining as the comedians was the Auslan interpreter, Diane. Normally, I don’t pay any attention to these interpreters, but I found myself constantly turning to her for her interpretation of what was being said.

All the comedians did their best in showcasing their talent. Their individual shows are worth checking out at this year’s comedy festival.

The Perth Comedy Festival runs from 21 Apr to 18 May. To book tickets to a show, please visit https://www.perthcomedyfestival.com/.

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Chalkface: Melville Theatre

06/05/202503/05/2025 Manuela Kacomanolis🥈🎭

Chalkface Rating

★★★★★

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Chalkface is a glimpse into the lives of six staff members from the fictional West Vale Public Primary School.

The two protagonists in the play, Pat Novitsky and Anna Park are polar opposites. Pat is a weary, cynical 56-year-old teacher and Anna is a 22-year-old perky graduate teacher, full of enthusiasm.

Pat has been teaching at West Vale for many years and has given up trying to make a difference in teaching and in the lives of the students. Her weariness is evident from the moment she steps into the staff room on the first day of Term One, dragging her feet with shoulders hunched. Years of bureaucratic red-tape, the constant lack of funding and having to deal with difficult parents appears to have taken a toll on her and that bright light within her she once had is now dim.

Anna on the other hand has full of ideas on how to improve the school for the teachers and for the students. On her very first day she is already suggesting new teaching methods that land her on the wrong side of Pat. The two clash throughout the play but as they get to know each other on a more personal level they develop a common ground.

The other characters are Denise Hart, the somewhat ditzy pre-primary teacher; Cheryl Filch, the former bank worker now school office manager who guards the office supplies with an iron fist; Steve Budge, who is convinced a parent of one of his students is stalking him; and lycra Principal Douglas Housten.

Rather than acts in the play they have terms which I thought was quite a clever way of delivering the performance. With each term more layers of the characters unravel.

Set in the staff room of West Vale, the set designer has done a brilliant job in presenting a run-down and outdated staff room with cracks in the walls and basic office furniture. This was a dead give-away that West Vale is a public school and the lack of school funding is a major theme throughout the play.

Natalie Burbage is phenomenal as the grouchy Pat Novitsky and Sophie Harvey-Lissienko is equally as good as the bright Anna Park. The other cast members Louise Fishwick, Cameron Leese, Maree Stedul and Christopher Hill all deliver strong performances and the camaraderie amongst the cast shines through in their performances.

There is a strong message conveyed in the play which many of us are perhaps already aware of and that is teaching is a hard profession. Teachers are underappreciated and underpaid. But as the director Vanessa Jensen mentions in her Director’s Notes, playwright Angela Betzien describes Chalkface as a “love letter to teachers” with relatable teacher issues presented in a humorous manner.

To book tickets to Chalkface, please visit https://melvilletheatrecompany.au/current-production.

Photographer: Curtain Call Creatives

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