Hannah Maxwell: BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG theatre review – Quirky and thoughtful
The trauma-dump trope is given a thorough kicking in this inventive hour
Some shows arrive with a tidy premise and march dutifully through it: BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG does the opposite. Hannah Maxwell begins with a gloriously odd concept and somehow spins it into something that feels both wildly inventive and deeply human.
The title alone hints that this won’t be a conventional night of theatre and Maxwell leans fully into that quirky DNA. The result is laugh out loud funny while also being conceptually sharp. Maxwell has the rare ability to make complex ideas feel easy to access and effortless to digest. What could easily spiral into clever for clever’s sake instead lands as something warm and inviting, like being wrapped in a theatrical blanket while someone very funny shares beautifully strange ideas with you.
The performance itself is captivating from start to finish. Maxwell commands the stage with an ease that feels both playful and precise, guiding the audience through every twist of the show, with confidence. The writing is layered with humour and heart, revealing moments of the artist’s struggle in ways that feel genuine rather than self-indulgent. It’s honest, raw, occasionally confronting and quietly thought provoking, yet always delivered with a lightness that keeps the audience completely there.
There’s a poetic quality to the writing too. Lines ripple and unravel with a rhythm that occasionally feels almost Shakespearean, its cadence sonnets disguised as punchlines. And Maxwell delivers them with such charm that you’d happily listen to her read the phone book from start to finish.
The staging is deceptively simple yet extremely clever, guiding the audience smoothly through the experience in a way that feels polished and intentional. It lands with the confidence of a performer who could easily command a corporate gig one night and a fringe theatre the next, and be equally successful in both worlds.
By the end, the audience feels fully carried on the journey: warmed, amused, and quietly moved. BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG is adorable: smart and refreshingly unique, a show that proves clever theatre doesn’t need to shout to make itself heard. Sometimes it just needs to smile, tell the truth, and invite you in.
Hannah Maxwell: BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG concluded at the Hetzel Room at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the State Library on March 15.