She caused her audience a lot of genuine laughs. Barton has translated personal experience as a young woman into very funny sequences, describing situations that are all too familiar. Without any didactics, there is a battle of the sexes at play here, for the most part it is simply action, and very few words. Everyone gets to appreciate why her slightly bossy character, Mary Floppins, is the way she is.
Yes, you may pick up some household tips along on her journey, and possibly some strategies on training your man-child to pull his own weight around the house, but it’s all done in an amusingly winning way.
After using multimedia to underline the subtext of her tale through two thirds of the show, Jessica steps out of character as Mary briefly, towards the end of the hi-jinks, to serenade everyone with heartfelt truths.
I would say some of her antics push the show into an ‘adults only’ slot as Mary exhibits some primal reactions to feeling caged in, being in-demand and taken advantage of, for duties other than those she would personally select to pass her time. The way she manages to interact is charming even though there are sharp points to be made. Dirty Work overall is buoyant, funny and smartly presented. Five spit spotless stars.
Dirty Work is on during Adelaide Fringe at The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum until Sunday, 23 March. Get tickets here.
