By Cameron Woodhead
MELBOURNE FRINGE FESTIVAL
Selina Jenkins.
CABARET
BOOBS ★★★★★
Selina Jenkins, Trades Hall, until September 20
Reviewers of Boobs should keep what happens in it close to their chest – not least because Selina Jenkins is such a gifted storyteller, and her autobiographical cabaret so footsure and fabulous, that it’s best to go in without any preconceptions.
It’s safe to say that fans of the funbag won’t leave disappointed. Jenkins, a queer woman, is something of a boobs aficionado herself, and the show begins with titillating scat, before launching into an individual odyssey – a quest, if you like, where breast isn’t always best. (Before you leap to conclusions, the answer is no, cancer is mercifully not involved.)
Part of what makes Jenkins’ work sublime and inspiring is the way every aspect of her performance combines to hold you in thrall. Her soulful voice, her witty and poignant lyrics, her instinct for comic delivery and timing, her talent for shaping anecdotes and generating suspense – all combine to share a story that unearths the universal in the unusual, the political in the personal.
Boobs is suffused with a gentle but firm insistence on women’s ownership of their own bodies, of anyone’s right to discover and to be who they are without judgment. You can’t help but laugh and cheer at the freedom to be found in Jenkins’ strength of character, emotional intelligence, her likeable sense of humour and astonishing talent.