A welcome reprise for Kelly McCaughan’s visceral, flirty and funny 2023 show, Catholic Guilt pits the American’s faith-based upbringing against her burgeoning adolescent sexuality for a candid, shame-riddled and physically expressive confessional. Structured through the immovable, immutable object of that religion’s dogma, from the order of service to the communal singing she coaxes the crowd into, dramatic and comedic tension arises from the clash with the irresistible force of her awakening carnal thoughts.

Switching between ominous, oppressive conformity and girlish excitement in the blink of an increasingly revealing costume change, McCaughan is perky but never underplays the darker side of her formative years, emphasising their ongoing impact. Directly engaging her crowd, she treads a fine line in abusing her authority as performer, channelling the overbearing power of Catholicism but also of heady teenage lust in transporting us back to her experience.

Ultimately, the tone shifts from reverence, to confusion, to epiphany and outright sacrilege as her feelings for Jesus take on a different hue. But if the audience is made to feel complicit in McCaughan’s sin, it’s a wild ride getting there and you intuit that the journey to hell will be equally entertaining. 

Kelly McCaughan: Catholic Guilt, Underbelly Bristo Square, until 25 August, 10pm; main picture: Emilie Krause.