Michael Workman: Ave Loretta

Michael Workman is a pleasure to see and hear develop. One of the few local 'slow burners' (it's him and Hannah Gadsby for me), his use of subtle timing is sweet as. It's still funny, gloriously so at times, but it's a funny that draws you in rather than hits you over the head with frantic delivery and 'hey, what's the deal' upbeatness. This show was particularly mellow- a eulogy, actually- using the type of lyrically storytelling that is usually mastered by Justin Hamilton. It's also the type of thing that has a degree of difficulty so high that it's pretty much only Hamilton locally that tries it – so Workman's aspiration here is to be admired, if nothing else. There's still a whiles to go for this piece (perhaps the small noisy room didn't help in getting the pitch right), but Workman's works in progress remain well worth the time and effort.