Katrina Mathers Returns to Melbourne International Comedy Festival with New Work

After a 23 year hiatus, double cancer survivor and previous Moosehead Award-winner Katrina Mathers (The Wedge, Flipside, Footy Chicks) now returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Performances are Mondays through Sundays (but no shows Wednesdays) at 6 p.m. from March 26 to April 19 at Trainscendence (Black Box Theatre). Previews are from March 26 to 29, and opening night is March 30.

Premiering her latest work, Anything But The Dyson and Other Excellent Monologues at Collingwood’s newest and most eclectic arts hub — the Black Box Theatre at Trainscendence — MICF audiences can expect a rollercoaster expose about the joys of sweating, swearing, dating, menopause meltdowns, cold-water triumphs, memory loss... and um, no…wait, I just had it, er, something else…

Created by Katrina Mathers, Anything But The Dyson and Other Excellent Monologues features her own work and that of other talented, local female writers. A series of clever and self-contained stories and reflections about midlife mayhem, this new Australian comedy places a side-splitting spotlight on the complex love-hate relationship of owning a Dyson vacuum cleaner, interwoven with other excellent monologues about slamming into your 50s.

"When I was younger, a 40-year-old woman doing comedy was a kind of  a novelty and slightly icky, but it was also a 'good on her!' kind of talking point," said Mathers. "But I’m 50+ now, and really? Where are all the other shows for, and about, women in their 50s? Other than work by the legendary Judith Lucy and Denise Scott (and gosh I hope they both come to this) -  where are all the older voices? I’m looking forward to being myself on stage. Something I haven’t ever really done before. I’m also not a “stand up comedian” so go easy on me. I’m blind in one eye, deaf in one ear, and I mentioned I’m menopausal, right? So, there’s no use in heckling me, I won’t be able to see you, hear you, or remember what you’ve said."

Best known as newsreader spoof Sandra Sultry on Ch10’s sketch series The Wedge, where she was one of the regular main ensemble writer/performers, Katrina Mathers was last seen on stage in Skating in the Clouds at Theatre Works in 2024. She has an extensive career in film and television with credits including Blue Heelers, Wilfred, City Homicide, Economy Class, and ABC’s sketch series Flipside - which she co-created. She was a lead voice artist on the long-running ABC 774 radio serial, The Breakfast Shift, has won awards for the web series Incoming: Words of War, played a depressed mum in Tones and I’s Never Seen the Rain music video (38million+ views), and was the nurse in the original Saw short film.

Now heading back into the MICF scrum, comedy lovers are  invited to join her on a fun, honest and chaotic journey of navigating the wonders of menopause. Older, hotter, funnier. Bring a fan.

Oh, and Anything But The Dyson and Other Excellent Monologues is also in no way endorsed by the manufacturers of Dyson vacuum cleaners. Yet.

Don't Miss a Australia - Melbourne News Story
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...