It’s often difficult to review a show that changes line-up every night. The question inevitably arises as to what to actually evaluate and what to omit. Do you take the face value of the performers on the night in question? Do you try and get a feeling of what it will be like every night? Thankfully, Late Night Storytelling At A Reasonable Hour makes this job much, much easier.
Each night, host and curator Luke Leonard hand picks a lineup of yarn spinners and raconteurs to regale the crowd with long-form stories from their own lives. There’s a different theme for each show, and tonight’s is the oldest in the book. Love. The performers, including Leonard himself, open up the vaults of personal history and deep dive into tales of every kind. Love in all its forms comes out throughout the evening, as the comics make their extended time on stage count.
As the show progresses, something rather wonderful happens. Audience members who entered with restraint slowly move themselves further and further towards the front rows, eager to immerse themselves in the experience in more literal ways. Strangers sidle up to one another, collectively sharing in something that is seldom seen around the rest of the festival. There’s an instant connection between the performers and their crowd, like the familial calm of sharing stories around a campfire. The warming, heartbreaking, hilarious tales that resonate deeply with all in the room. From Angus Brown’s incredibly unique tale of meeting “the one” to Nikki Viveca coming to terms with her asexuality, all the way to a family history from Nicky Barry that dates all the way back to the 1900s. Each story ticks off a different box in the love checklist, and all definitions of the word are well and truly covered.
Late Night Storytelling At A Reasonable Hour is a wholly unique experience for MICF punters. It may be past midnight by the time the crowd are leaving the venue, but it’s a lovely way to cap off the evening.
