The opening of Erin Hutchinson's one-woman show is a parade of mid-2000s references which will elicit embarrassed laughs of recognition from anyone born between 1987 and 1992.
Hutchinson is touchingly vulnerable and fiercely funny as she walks us through her struggles as a sexually confused adolescent at an all-girl private school, with all the awkwardness, forced socialising and misguided feelings seemingly inherent to that period.
She further exposes herself as she reads from a romance novel she penned as a teenager, sings songs recorded in her bedroom and pretends to be interviewed on a talk show (by her teddy bear, of course). It all culminates gloriously in some of the best, most painfully relatable prop comedy you'll see all festival (involving a pillow).
Hutchinson is clearly working through some personal demons on stage, but not in a way that's at all difficult or uncomfortable to watch. Neither self-loathing nor nostalgic, her show presents a deeply funny and honest portrait of her confused adolescent self. Please Come Closer (Don't Touch Me) is so profoundly personal could feel utterly self-indulgent if it wasn't such a universal story of the blunder years.
The specific cultural references Hutchinson draws upon help paint the scene, but they aren't really the point. Even if you never watched The OC, listened to Avril Lavigne or lusted after Chad Michael Murray as a teenager, there's plenty to love here. The details may change, but the story of adolescence is ultimately the same.
Hutchinson has clearly come to feel affection for that awkward teenager, just as the audience does by the show's cathartic climax. She subtly makes larger points about empathy and self-acceptance, without indulging in saccharine sentimentality. Most importantly, it's hilarious. See this show, ideally with someone you stumbled through those adolescent years with.
Erin Hutchinson presents Please Come Closer (Don't Touch Me), 10 & 17 Apr at Melbourne Town Hall, part of the Melbourne international Comedy Festival.
