MICF: Lisa-Skye’s Lovely Tea Party

Local comedy queen and self-proclaimed “Fraggle Rock dominatrix” Lisa-Skye hosts an adults-only soiree to make the Mad Hatter blush, in Lisa-Skye’s Lovely Tea Party, at The Tuxedo Cat as part of the 2015 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

A vision in emerald green fur and black combat gear, this sassy punk Muppet welcomes us into her pop-up tea room with a bit of light “getting to know you” patter and a story chosen by the audience from a big pin-up board of fun topics. Ours was entitled “Berlin Sex Punch”.

As the show shifts into its second act, Lisa-Skye deftly leads us on a journey of “sex, drugs and hedonism”, as she welcomes her guests (a rotating line-up of fellow festival performers each night) to take tea and explore topics of their choosing, ranging from the panel’s favourite animals to their own darkest phobias.

The show is relatively straightforward in its chat-show format, and, as with any such formula show, rides almost entirely on the charisma of its host.

To the uninitiated, Lisa-Skye’s bold aesthetic could signpost her as an intimidating figure, but in reality she is nothing but tender, generous and entirely inclusive of her audience. As the evening’s conversation flits seamlessly from favourite snack foods to favourite fetishes, her disarmingly honest and unapologetically frank delivery makes potential taboos seem nothing but casual, and, despite her own jibes at the notion, makes Lisa-Skye a thoroughly “relatable” host.

The somewhat disappointing lack of any actual tea at this party was more than made up for by a rampant abundance of glitter, dispensed with suitably reckless abandon.