Madeleine Swain

Madeleine Swain is ArtsHub’s managing editor. Originally from England where she trained as an actor, she has over 25 years’ experience as a writer, editor and film reviewer in print, television, radio and online. She is also currently Vice Chair of JOY Media.

Madeleine Swain's Latest Articles

Sarah Keyworth. My Eyes Are Up Here. Image is a white non-binary person in a white shirt, leaning on an elbow and lying on a padded brown velvet couch.
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Comedy review: Sarah Keyworth, My Eyes Are Up Here, Town Hall, MICF 2024

The British comic may have had top surgery recently, but they still want you to think about where you direct…

Image is a man with a closed mouth smile/grimace at the camera and a slight upturn of the head. He is wearing a black jumper and has a grey mottled backdrop.
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Comedy review: Tom Ballard: Good Point Well Made, Rydges One, MICF 2024

Fierce and funny, Ballard delivers a rock solid hour that even babies seem to love...

Headshot of a middle aged smiling woman with head tilted to the left. She has short sticking up grey hair and is wearing a dark blue collar shirt. Geraldine Hickey.
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Comedy review: Geraldine Hickey, Don't Tease Me About My Gloves, Arts Centre Melbourne, MICF 2024

Don't tease her and don't say 'oh yeah' when Hickey tells you why she's wearing gloves...

Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience. Image is an old Ford Anglia with its lights on crashed in a forest and spotlit from above.
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Experience review: Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience, The Briars, Mornington Peninsula

Fancy a trip to a Potter-themed forest experience? Butter beer included...

Mel Buttle. Image is a head and shoulders shot of a smiling woman with a side parting and long wavy hair wearing red lipstick and a stripey T shirt under a blue and white jacket with a floral pattern on the chest.
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Comedy review: Mel Buttle, Not Here To Put Socks On Centipedes, Town Hall, MICF 2024

Whether it's admitting that parenthood isn't always 100 percent rosy or dealing with a rowdy crowd member, Buttle's timing is…

Zoë Coombs Marr. Image is a woman wearing oversized rubber gloves, outside with a beach behind her, leaning on her elbows at a table. She has long brown hair and is wearing a brown T shirt.
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Comedy review: Zoë Coombs Marr, Every Single Thing In My Whole Entire Life, Town Hall, MICF 2024

Coombs Marr proves once again she gets just as many guffaws out of drag as she does in it.

Against a black background a woman has one arm stretched out to the side and the other above her head. She has a mask of an oversized mouth on the bottom half of her face and is leaning to the left. Nina Conti
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Comedy review: Nina Conti, Your Face or Mine, The Capitol, MICF 2024

The endlessly entertaining woman with nerves of steel and a hand up a monkey's bottom is back...

Image is a red background with a chest-up shot of a middle aged man wearing glasses, suit and tie and looking out at the camera with a neutral expression, behind a sheet of shattered glass.
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Comedy review: Ed Byrne: Tragedy Plus Time, The Malthouse, MICF 2024

The Irish comic proves that no subject is too dark for humour... if you approach it right.

A colourful pink and yellow striped background behind three headshots: on the left a woman with dark wavy hair, in the middle a man doing a 'Home Alone' face holding his cheeks and on the right a curly headed man. Melbourne International Comedy Festival. MICF 2024
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Comedy review: New Order, Powder Room, Town Hall, MICF 2024

A trio of UK-based comedians – Josh Jones, Celya Ab and Dan Tiernan.

Reuben Kaye. Man with huge open mouthed lipsticked smile and extravagant eyelashes is under a striated spotlight.
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Comedy review: Reuben Kaye, Apocalipstik, The Malthouse, MICF 2024

A force of deliciously bent nature, Kaye delivers again.

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