After a 23 year hiatus, Katrina Mathers is heading back to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a new show that leans into midlife, memory loss and the strange emotional baggage of household appliances.
The double cancer survivor and former Moosehead Award winner returns with Anything But The Dyson and Other Excellent Monologues, premiering at Collingwood’s Black Box Theatre at Trainscendence. It marks her first MICF appearance in more than two decades and her most personal work yet.
Written and performed by Mathers, the show brings together her own material alongside work from other local female writers. The result is a series of sharp, self contained monologues exploring menopause meltdowns, dating fatigue, cold water triumphs and the chaos of crashing into your 50s, all anchored by a love hate relationship with a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
Mathers says the lack of stories about older women on Australian comedy stages helped push her back into the festival spotlight.
“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”, explains 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 Sandra Sultry on The Wedge, Mathers has appeared across Australian film, television, radio and stage, most recently performing in Skating in the Clouds at Theatre Works in 2024.
Now returning to the MICF scrum, she invites audiences along for an honest, chaotic and very sweaty ride. Older, hotter, funnier. Bring a fan.
Anything But The Dyson and Other Excellent Monologues runs from 26 March to 19 April. Bookings via www.katrinamathers.actor
