Geraldine Hickey in One Week in Paradise
Spending a week in a psychiatric facility doesn’t seem like the kind of thing a room full of people would want to come and laugh about. In Geraldine Hickey’s case though, her week in a hospital psych ward is the fodder for her 2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival show.
Hickey has an almost conversational relationship with her audience, telling the story of her early signs of depression (or pleas for attention as she sometimes describes them) and eventual ‘week in paradise’ with an ease that makes it hard to believe this is her first solo show for the festival. Able to make her audience laugh with an ease that would be envied by many other new comics, Hickey’s frank account of a time, which most wouldn’t be too keen to share with a room full of strangers, is funnier than expected.
This is no poignant tale of redemption or self-therapy session, just a window into an experience many people would have no concept of. Dangerous territory to attempt is deftly handled with Hickey’s matter-of-fact manner and her ability to laugh at the situation along with her audience. Great timing carries the story along nicely, although the end seems to come a little abruptly, and a more structured narrative may have helped the pacing. This is a good show, not just for a first solo attempt, but by any standard you put it against.
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I think this one is going to win best newcomer! It’s bloody good and I think that all the talk about it is deserved
Damn straight! Hickey deserves huge praise for this show – for a newcomer, she’s doing amazing things. The show was great.
Geraldine Hickey – One week in paradise – 30/04/06 @ Melbourne Town Hall – by epod
This show played to an enthusiastic audience of 8. It should have played to a full house, but the unwritten law of entertainment is that if you haven’t been on telly or the radio you must be shit and not worth seeing. Right?
When Geraldine was first introduced, she came out on stage and said that the audience did not cheer loud enough, and that she was going to do the introduction again. She said that we needed to make it sound like there were a lot more people here than there actually were. We obliged. From reading about her show, I knew that it dealt with her depression and suicide attempts, so I was thankful that she eventually got the cheers that she requested and deserved.
She introduced herself as a Torres Strait Islander, which left the audience baffled for a minute as she did not *look* like one. She said that she had only just found out she was a Torres Strait Islander when she was filling in the census, as there was a question which asked, “Are you an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander?” She said that she knew that she definately was not an Aboriginal, so she figured that that meant that she was Torres Strait Islander.
She started by asking each member of the audience their names, and then continued on with a disclaimer of sorts about how everyone is fucked up in some way or another and some more than others. She then chronicalled the events in her life that led to her spending a week in the Acute Psychiatric Unit of Towoomba Hospital. She described her first suicide attempt as a teenager where she took a lot of a lot of pills, hoping to make a quick exit from this world.
She had taken the pills just before Maths class hoping that it would mean that she would miss Maths, however, she was still okay and had to sit through a whole lesson of maths impatiently wondering when said pills would kick in. Later in the day, a friend asked if she was alright and she admitted that she had taken the pills, and was promptly sent to the school nurses office. Geraldine said the nurse had asked her so many questions that she got sick of answering them, and proceeded to pretend to pass out. She was then sent to hospital where she was required to drink a lot of charcol to assist with flushing all the stuff she had taken out of her system.
Her next attempt was in the canteen at Toowoomba Uni, where she slit her wrist 12 times. The doctor sent her away, “to have a bit of time out”, which she did not realise would be in a psychiatric ward in a hospital until she was taken there. In there, she met a stack of bizarre and interesting people, whom she described during the show.
She also re-enacted phone calls to her flatmate – who she needed to contact to get clothes as she did not have any as they had taken her straight from Uni. She also made two calls to her mother – one where she lied about where she was and the other when she owned up to the fact that she was in the psychiatric unit.
Her mother did come and rescue her and Geraldine said that she has not had any other issues in regards to suicide since then, as she has learnt other ways to deal with things…like karaoke. She then proceeded to sing karaoke to (Torres Strait Islander) performer Christine Anu’s, “My Island Home”.
Whilst I am first to admit that this show is not laugh a minute stuff, that did not bother me, as the way humour was applied towards this otherwise deadly serious topic did appeal to me. I describe this show as being very well written, engrossing, disturbing, and entertaining – all at the same time.
Geraldine is a great performer, who appears to be very comfortable and confident on stage. I will be interested to know if she will continue on with her comedic endevours, or if this show was simply a therapy of sorts for her. Please go and see this show, as it is really interesting, and is quite a bit different from anything else you are likely to see at the comedy festival. Above all, for being so open, honest and for essentially baring her soul, Geraldine really does deserve an audience – of more than 8 people.
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