Lindsey Santoro: It Was Like That When I Got Here comedy review – Appealing quirks
A riotous, bawdy hour of family eccentricity, oversharing and gloriously colourful storytelling
Taking the stage in her trademark riot of pink, Lindsey Santoro is, as she acknowledges, a lot for a show beginning just after noon. Accentuating her self-conscious battiness with another costume reveal, she sits in the middle of four generations of female eccentricity, running from her grandmother to her daughter. From her child’s exposure of her at a softplay to her mother’s avowed belief in a connection with the spirit realm, Santoro’s tales are framed with an appealing gloss of quirkiness, with credibility seldom allowed to stand in the way of a colourful tale.
She would have you believe that she’s a reluctant performer, only compelled to pursue this career by her former Fringe success. And while it’s hard to imagine Santoro doing anything else, she speaks uncommonly warmly of her home set-up. Dirty of laugh and bawdy of inclination, she and her husband maintain an odd but loving relationship, her account of their sexual hot tub escapade is as inventive as it is graphic. Combined with the visceral story of Santoro’s labour, there’s little she holds back or leaves to the imagination. Her judging of children’s books by adult rationality feels gratuitous but she’s inexplicably hilarious adopting goblin tones to relate the weird home comforts of a caravanning holiday.
Lindsey Santoro: It Was Like That When I Got Here, Monkey Barrel Cabaret Voltaire, until 30 August, 12.05pm; picture: Dylan Woodley.