Zoe Coombs Marr: Trigger Warning

Zoe Coombs Marr's Trigger Warning is a fascinating piece of artistry. You can try to unpack it but there are so many layers it feels like the tiny Babushka doll in the centre will never be discovered.

Appearing on stage first as Dave, Coombs Marr's bumbling comedy alter-ego, this talented performer negotiates the spaces around modern gender politics in a show that becomes increasingly more absurd and physical. At one point Dave introduces the audience to his inner clown, a lesbian comedian named Zoe Coombs Marr (make sense?). Dave doesn't think his inner clown is at all funny. But then, Dave isn't really the kind of guy to think many women are funny.

Unfortunately for Dave that kind of attitude has gotten him in trouble so Trigger Warning is Dave's attempt to leave stand-up behind and embrace the French arts of clowning and mime. While one gets the feeling the real Coombs Marr thoroughly enjoys playing up the more inept and awkward aspects of Dave's persona, there's also a razor-sharp physicality that is very deliberate and brilliantly embodied in Dave and the other personas the audience meets over the course of this show.

Coombs Marr has only one more Sydney show before she takes this hilarious Barry Award-winning show to Edinburgh. Beg, borrow or steal to get a ticket. This show is that good.