The apocalypse will begin with one small thing. This is the premise for Claire Hooper’s show One Small Thing. Hooper takes the audience on a side-splitting journey as she bemoans the many problems caused by small things, such as trying to purchase an avocado at a self-serving check-out. The larger implications of these seemingly insignificant events are often the catalyst for an imagined apocalyptic ending. In one version, Australia ends up at war with China because Hooper sticks her hand in a toilet bowl.

One Small Thing is a balanced and well-written show, with gags that are threaded together beautifully. Hooper sings, dances, raps and uses an array of props to tell her gags, many of which focus on the lives of Hooper and her husband as they attempt to clean out their storage cage, or build a bunker in the backyard for the impending apocalypse. She is quick to whip out her iPhone and show off her ludicrously expensive curtains then later on displays a picture of her husband in an embarrassing state of drunkenness, a small thing that made her day. Everyone can relate to the rage at finding a parking ticket on the windscreen, or the tensions that arise when one person attempts to reduce the other’s collection of clutter. We’ve all been there, but Hooper skilfully turns these moments of frustration into laughter. That’s what makes One Small Thing so thoroughly enjoyable – the small things.