Eve Miller
Tackling sibling rivalry, the looming guilt of wasted potential, and still feeling like you need looking after at 30, Mary O’Connell delivers a nicely meandering hour of stand-up, weaving her way towards a satisfyingly heartwarming conclusion.
The key theme of the set is looking after: being looked after, looking after others, and looking back at your younger self after your life has gone differently than you expected. O’Connell talks about her siblings, playing the sandwich game where they all piled on top of her, and how being an oldest sister has shaped her identity. She talks about her multiracial family, growing up with a Caribbean mother and a white father who plays the steel drums, and living with them as an adult. She talks love, loss, and loyalty to your family’s own brand of weirdness, and the ways in which bringing a partner home can open your eyes to your family’s quirks. Ultimately, this is a set about looking after you and yours – giving grace to yourself and appreciating your family, and how you all fit together.
O’Connell has a natural, confident air, and strikes a great balance between feeding off of the audience’s energy and enjoying her own set, which makes for an endearingly giggly performance. She is charmingly petulant as she discusses her siblings achievements, her reliance on her parents, and her desire for a partner who will take on the role of protector/looker-after/lightbulb guy. There are some real big laughs dotted throughout the set, which had me smiling right the way through. She also delivers a good thirty seconds of stand-up while holding a plank, which I found particularly impressive. The set builds masterfully to an emotive conclusion, in which O’Connell ties up various loose ends from throughout her set, still coaxing laughter from the audience even as she discusses some heavy topics.
This is stand-up for anyone who loves their family, who needs to give their inner child a hug, or who is just feeling a bit lost at 30. Quirky and hilarious, with an intelligent emotional throughline, Dilly Dally is a lively exploration of millennial eldest daughter burnout.
Recommended Drink: A mimosa – I just think we would have a great time at brunch.
You can catch Mary O’Connell: Dilly Dally at Attic at Pleasance Courtyard from 30th July to 24th August at 19:15 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jasmine Silk
Phoebe Bakker
