Kelly Rose Ryan : Permanent Part-time Irregular Hours

By Alanta Colley

The hardest question Kelly Rose Ryan ever had to answer was: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Kelly Rose Ryan is a woman with just too many passions to have a single career. Instead, she has three jobs, which she frantically runs between.

A librarian, a personal trainer, and an actor are her three chosen professions. And Kelly is not short on anecdotes about any of these experiences. We hear of just what crazy shenanigans take place in a library. We gain insights into what actually happens when you go for a fitness test when joining a gym. And we learn about the tremendously competitive and ludicrous process of auditioning that actors are put through.

Ryan delivers her narrative as a mixture of anecdotes and cabaret numbers. She is accompanied on stage by a pianist/guitarist, who she seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with. Kelly’s songs generally augment her overall narrative; though sometimes they are more of a non sequitur. Ryan certainly has a set of lungs on her; raising the roof with some of her notes.

Rose Ryan also has a friendly repartee with the audience. She keeps proceedings interesting with a game or two. It was refreshing to see a show on a unique theme; and Ryan can genuinely attest to a unique life experience. Ryan is a cheerful, upbeat person, and while she holds gripes about her early morning schedule and franticly busy (self-induced) life-style the show abounds with the enthusiasm for the many exciting possibilities life affords. Ryan’s main challenge being how to get to them all in one lifetime.

It is however an odd fit for the Melbourne International Comedy festival. Kelly’s sing-song clearly rehearsed delivery fitted more accurately in the genre of a theatre/cabaret show and while it got laughs of recognition it wasn’t uproariously funny.

A cheerful, happy cabaret about a life less ordinary.

Permanent Part-time Irregular Hours is on at the Tuxedo Cat until April 20
http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2014/season/shows/permanent-part-time-irregular-hours-kelly-rose-ryan