In her 2015 Adelaide Fringe show Celia Pacquola asks audiences to “let her know how it all works out”. Well, let’s be perfectly clear: Pacquola is genuinely funny, demonstrably intelligent, quick as a flash, and perhaps most importantly, irresistibly likeable!
Yes! Finally, a comic who comes across as neither conceited nor self-destructive; neither too nervous nor too overstuffed with confidence and bravado.
It’s basically a show about the ennui we’re all facing, but it’s fun. Pacquola spent more than a year revising the material and it shows. It’s cleverly crafted and expertly timed, and the delivery is deadly precise. Her narrative -- and there really is one -- bears all the hallmarks of someone who’ll be writing her own television series before long (if she hasn’t been approached already), and the jokes, whether prepared or ad-libbed, never feel like they’ve been shoehorned in. Likewise, Pacquola’s audience interaction is unforced, light and easy, and seems genuinely affectionate.
Of course, all of this could simply indicate that she’s an exceptionally talented actor, and that we’ve been fooled into thinking she’s the-gal-next-door who happens to be a lot funnier than us, when in reality she’s some kind of crazed ego-monster... but we doubt it. Either way, things appear to be working out for Celia Pacquola just fine.
Studio 7, Garden Of Unearthly Delights (finished)
