Becky Lucas – Cute Funny Smart Sexy Beautiful
Factory Floor, Factory Theatre
★★★ ½
In the pilot of the television series Girls, creator Lena Dunham's character Hannah Horvath famously proclaims: "I think I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice. Of a generation."
Becky Lucas is an exciting new voice on the Australian comedy scene.
Photo: Janie Barrett
One of the most promising talents on the Australian comedy circuit, Becky Lucas offers a feminist voice for a millennial generation that knows every social gathering is an elaborate build-up to the final group selfie.
Lucas has had plenty of hype and comes to the Sydney Comedy Festival after the sold-out run of her show Little Bitch in Australia and New Zealand. Her latest offering, Cute Funny Sexy Smart Beautiful, has sold-out five shows at the Factory Theatre and an encore performance has been added for next month at the Sydney Comedy Store.
Becky Lucas performed at the Canberra Comedy Festival earlier this year.
Photo: karleen minney
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Lucas wrote the Emmy Award-winning Please Like Me and co-wrote The Other Guy, and fans of these series will find a lot to like in her honest observations about being a twentysomething woman trying to make her way in a world of self-righteous male feminists, dick pics and social media trolling. This is not shallow comedy, it's smart.
If some of the transitions between jokes felt stilted and the audience interaction was at times unsuccessful, Lucas had a witty charm, both bold and self-deprecating, that made it hard not to be on her side.
While Lucas poked fun at her low self-esteem on stage, her self-consciousness about the quality of her own gig left the audience slightly unsure. The gig concluded with more of a fizzle than a bang, with Lucas apparently unsure how to end her own show (or was this a joke that missed its mark?).
But an evening with Lucas was a pleasure, and we can all be thankful a unique, young, female comedian is getting the attention, and attracting the audiences, she deserves.
Her spot-on performance in the festival's sold-out Opening Night Gala held in the Concert Hall at the Opera House proves she has no problems holding her own in far bigger venues than Marrickville's Factory Theatre.
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