UTG Review @ Melbourne International Comedy Festival: Bryony Kimmings – ‘Sex Idiot’

March 28th, 2014

Brenton Harris

Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Comic: Bryony Kimmings
Show: Sex Idiot
Venue: Melbourne Town Hall

Every now and then a piece of performance art comes along that is so unique, daring and confrontational that words simply cannot do it testament. Bryony Kimmings’ Sex Idiot is not one of these shows, but only because you’d need to add ‘hilarious’ to the description.

A thought-provoking yet wildly humorous examination of the awkward aftermath that follows being diagnosed with an STI, Sex Idiot is at once a biting social critique of our archaic attitudes towards STIs and a heartfelt dissertation on modern relationships. Oh, and it’s bloody funny, too!

A multifaceted performance piece which incorporates elements of song, interpretive dance, mime, stand-up comedy and theatrical monologue, Sex Idiot is a 70-minute showcase of all that is amazing about this eminently likable and ridiculously talented UK starlet.

From the opening moments, Kimmings has the audience on the edge of their seat, as she sets the premise and then gets busy (pun intended) taking us all on an emotional roller coaster ride through the different stages of acceptance she went through after learning she had Chlamydia.

Presented in a series of vignettes, each concentrated on an individual former lover who may or may not have given her “the clap,” Sex Idiot is highlighted by several moments of absurdity (such as “The Headache of Being in A Relationship With Ben,” in which Kimmings dresses up in full Spanish costume before hitting herself repeatedly over the head with a bunch of flowers), witty ditties (including a Bob Dylan meets Kate Nash style song that features 64 different names for Vagina), some rather erotic interpretative dance routines (including one that takes place literally in and at times on top of the crowd) and a genius piece of audience interaction involving scissors, pubic hair, Jack Daniels and a mustache (I won’t spoil it any further).

A deeply personal piece that manages to move the audience to the brink of tears (both happy and sad in nature) before launching off into a thousand divergent directions, before bringing it all to a heartbreaking and unexpectedly tender conclusion, Sex Idiot is a dynamite piece of modern art and an early contender for the moniker of the festival’s best show.

Cerebral yet crude, confrontational yet comedic, and intense yet irreverent, Sex Idiot can be best described as humanity laid bare, and that it seems is the funniest comedy of them all.