Baggas
78% Honesty
Tuxedo Cat: Synagogue Place, City
Until Fri 7 March


Originally from Perth, Melbourne based comedian-cum-songstress-cum-illustrator Michelle 'Baggas' Baginski just wants to be wanted, needs to be needed, and would love to be loved. Using the stage as her platform for one big communal first date, after turning her mobile phone to silent so that we don't get interrupted by "work" calling, she awkwardly sets about breaking the ice by chatting and singing about past failed attempts with men she had nothing in common with.

She tells of marrying a no-hoper after a first date at a ski lodge, and nicknames another long term boyfriend Rusty as she equates him to a useless tool when all the time she fantasised about a man of steel. But does that mean that she sees herself as a perfect catch? Things are better now she's off the medication and, okay, maybe her imaginary support crew just might be a coping mechanism but she's cute and, who knows? With the right person she might be able to start a new life and all those underlying shades of neurosis might just disappear forever.

And best of all, she claims to be honest for at least 78% of the time and, as for the other 63%, for Baggas it's a loaded numbers game and the more people that go to her show the better her prospects.

Displaying original artwork for props and utilising quaint little repetitive guitar licks to back her quirk-filled songs, Baggas wispily treads that fine line between self-deprecation and desperation and at times it's hard for the audience to differentiate between what's an act and what's real. Her name is Baggas, and she's a dickheadaholic.

Steve Jones