Zoe Coombs Marr: Agony! Misery! spotty, immature at times, but has the occasional glimpse of great potential

COMEDY Zoe Coombs Marr: Agony! Misery! 3 STARS Big Top at The Woodside Pleasure Garden REVIEW: BELLE TAYLOR Zoe Coombs Marr has been thinking a lot about teenagers. Not in a weird way. In fact, she has been thinking about her own adolescence, and about how intense and formative that time is in your life and how the memories and emotions from those heady hormone-filled years stay with you. “I remember every single name from high school and not a single one since,” she quips at one point. It is a rich vein for comedy, and Coombs Marr has plenty of sharp lines about the Agony! and Misery! of growing up in Grafton, NSW. A self-confessed “weird” kid who was confused about her sexuality, thought a lot about kissing and was generally pretty horrified at the entire spectre of being a teenager. Early on, Coombs Marr tells the audience she does not like traditional narrative conventions, equating them to a masculine idea of linear thinking. That may or may not be an idea that holds up to scrutiny, but gosh, narrative structure does make a stand-up comedy show easier to follow, regardless of gender. So instead of a linear narrative structure we have looping thoughts about teenagers and coming of age, which continually comes back to a formative moment for Coombs Marr when she was 13 years old and on band camp. After an illicit party saw half the students sent home early, Coombs Marr was tapped to play every flute solo in the final band camp performance of a West Side Story musical medley. Despite only being in Year 7. While she touches on interesting themes, her thoughts often seem only half formed. A lot of Agony! Misery! feels like a show searching for a director, a script editor and a solid week in rehearsal. The half of the show that is there is brilliant, and the rest huge potential. But unfortunately, it feels like that’s what it is — potential. At times rambling, Combs Marr admits she has trouble telling stories, which for a show that seems to want to focus on storytelling, is problematic. A linear narrative is by no means essential, but the looping style of this show occasionally just made it repetitive. Coombs Marr is at her best with her one liners and when she veers to more familiar territory — a lot of this show was very new. There was a lovely moment at the end of the show — to give it away would spoil the surprise — but it’s as special a moment as any you would get at Fringe. Catch this show in six months and it may just be brilliant, but right now, it’s a bit of an awkward teenager. Spotty, at times immature, but with the occasional glimpse of great potential.

Zoe Coombs Marr: Agony! Misery! spotty, immature at times, but has the occasional glimpse of great potential

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