There is nothing comedian Geraldine Hickey likes more to clear her mind than a bit of a wander – a walk or a run – or so she tells us.
Against a backdrop of six bush panels, that reminded me of Frederick McCubbin paintings, she opens up about some of her experiences.
She starts by saying that whether she communes with nature or simply ambles down to the shops, the benefit is there.
She appears especially proud if it is the latter and she comes home empty handed … because it shows admirable restraint.
The tone of the show is set. She is a most engaging and entertaining performer, who know how to spin a yarn.
Take, for instance, her reference to a man in business attire consuming a kid’s treat.
Hickey’s is also very much physical humour, as her facial expressions and body movements speak volumes.
Nothing seems forced. There is an endearing authenticity about her.
Some of the material emanates from her recent appearance on season 11 of I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! on Network Ten, where she made it to the top five.
One of the things she was asked before being dropped into the South African jungle was her greatest fear.
Answer: spiders – the large, hairy kind.
Why? Because, she had already experienced the ignominy of performing a gig for a bunch of drunk men from a plumbing supplies company. Boom, boom!
Anyway, back to I’m a Celebrity. Given her answer to producers, naturally, from the get go, the creepy crawlies became part of her trials.
She proceeds to relay in vivid detail her first arachnoid meeting, following hot on the heels of slime and maggots. Sobering stuff!
On a number of occasions, Hickey talks of being a lesbian and how her wife picks on her for lacking a sense of direction.
She exemplifies just how skewwhiff her radar actually is, regardless of whether it is close to home or further afield.
Straying from the path seems to be her stock in trade and all of it is readily relatable.
Hickey details her love of animals and attending informative talks (repeatedly), combining the two, to speak about snakes, birds, sanctuaries and zoos.
That includes a laugh inducing vignette about children not listening to instructions about how to handle a python.
She references her struggles downing an odious concoction with an intense horrible flavour in a particularly meaningful food trial in South Africa.
Suffice to say, it is stomach churning and vomit inducing, but Hickey is nothing if not a trooper.
There is no pretence about Geraldine Hickey. She is naturally funny and very easy to warm to.
She moves seamlessly from one story to another, with the audience lapping up each morsel (pun fully intended).
Geraldine Hickey: Meander is on at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne until 20th April, 2025.
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