Tommy Bradson in When the Sex is Gone

Review: It's very difficult to know how to review When The Sex Has Gone. It's part of the Sydney Comedy Festival, but this piece of cabaret-theatre is not explicitly comic – although it's often very funny. In fact, that very individuality is also its strength: there's genuinely nothing else like it in a festival which is, almost by definition, mainly stand up comedy. A series of comic monologues and musical interludes by a dragged-up Tommy Bradson, telling the story of a drunken hermaphrodite cabaret star... well, "hey, did'ja ever notice..." it ain't.

First, the criticisms: it's a bit too long, Bradson's voice was clearly struggling (the show reviewed was the final one of the run, so that's hardly unexpected) and some of the songs either need to be tightened up or made more cabaret-ish: a few more lyrical twists and less repeated choruses. However, these are tiny niggles in a remarkably ambitious show, with Bradson keeping character (well, actually, two characters) for the entire hour of the show. While the show was clearly tightly written and rehearsed, it didn't lack life: the restless full house were put in their place on several occasions and Bradson's authority over the material never wavered. Strange festival choice though it was, here's hoping that next year's festival chooses more acts of this daring calibre. Andrew P Street