Some comedians choose to try and reviewer-proof their shows by focusing on their mental health, revealing enough vulnerability that you’d have to be completely lacking in empathy to write anything negative. In The Critic, Kate Dolan has another very clever option. And that is she plays the critic herself.
In a motif that recalls Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound, she kicks off the show sitting in the audience (disguised as a plant… literally) and then takes to the stage already giving full voice to her not-so-secret inner critic.
Utilising a voice-changing device, she intermittently flicks a switch to take us from Dolan performing her usual material to a shadowy figure that speaks her innermost thoughts. This deep-voiced accusatory critic (or, more charitably, mentor) gives feedback on the joke she’s just delivered, the way the crowd is reacting and every other element of her intricately constructed and energetically delivered stand-up routine.
The voice even muses on the number of stars the show may be worth were an external reviewer there to rate it. It’s a fascinating dialogue, which fortunately also happens to be very funny. Dolan’s style is high-octane and rapid fire, so much so that it’s hard to remember much of the content – it comes so thick and fast.
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There is certainly a whole very relatable segment on what it’s like to choose a wedding dress if you’re a woman who prefers to dress like a 12-year-old boy, but the most surprising, and hilarious, gag of the night comes right at the end, in the form of some unexpected fruit.
I won’t spoil it for you here, suffice to say when this reviewer attended at least one young woman dressed like a 12-year-old boy in the audience nearly had to be carried out, the hilarity hit so hard.
Tickets: $18-$28
Kate Dolan: The Critic will be performed at Bard’s Apothecary, Crossley Street until 6 April 2025 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF 2025).
