In a small room at The Producers (appropriately named “the Niche”) that couldn’t be much more than 5 metres square, and seat forty people at a squishy maximum, Ethan Andrews delivered a performance that was worthy of a venue many more times the size. Despite this show being his debut at the Adelaide Fringe, he still managed to draw a large and diverse audience, and have everyone chuckling for the full 45-minute show.
Opening with a few prods at the hopeless nature of New Year’s resolutions — and the existential crises that arise from Golden Gaytimes every first few months of the year — Ethan then moved on to growing up in a town called Singleton, a rural mining community that lives up to its name by having one of the highest ratios of men to women in Australia. With guidance from a questionable self-help book, Ethan decides to follow four steps to find his happiness: leave, stay, do nothing, and accept it. Using these key “steps” he finds himself on the opposite side of the world, in another mining community; let down by the Hemsworth brothers; and single in Singleton wondering why he took the advice of a one-cent self-help book.
This show had everybody in the room laughing from the get-go, and captures why Ethan deserves to be the recipient of NSW’s Young Regional Artist Scholarship, instead of the government giving the money to a “country hospital that doesn’t have enough beds.” If you see one comedy show this season, I strongly recommend this be it.
Words by Kirsty van der Veer
4½ stars
Ethan Andrews: The Youngest I Am Ever Going to Be is playing at the Niche at The Producers on March 11. Tickets available here.
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