Fringe review: Glace’s Big Things
An unfocused hour can’t dampen the zest of this cavalier and candid stand-up. ★★★
There are more than 1,000 big things across Australia, from fruit to animals to fish to hats to… peanuts. So when New Yorker Glace Chase found herself broke and stranded here after lockdown, naturally she decided to pack up her GoPro and turn these fibreglass icons into YouTube content to pay the bills. It didn’t work, but it’s proved to be fruitful source material for a stand-up hour that ranges from the perils of double-dicking (only works at certain angles and is a lot to process when in Brisbane), to camping safely as a trans person, to the amount of paperwork Aussies need to hire a car.
This show itself isn’t perfect; it’s rambling in places and the story structure sometimes isn’t all that clear, particularly at the beginning. But Chase is extremely likeable. Frank, funny and extremely sexually explicit (the Fringe website content warning of group sex and fruit is entirely justified), there’s definitely more than a hint of smoky New York cabaret club about the open-air Squeaker as Chase stalks the stage, spitting out her stories and daring you to cross her. Shrewd, tough and with a cackle that can stop traffic, she’s also vulnerable, tender and wide open, especially once she overcomes her early set nerves. With a little tightening, this show has the potential to go places; even in its current state it’s a point of view and a joyful pay-off that’s entirely unique.
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Glace’s Big Things is playing at The Squeaker at Gluttony from February 20 – March 1
