One-woman musical comedy

MELIA Naughton is bringing her one-woman show, Amalfi Roast, to the Byron Theatre on October 24.

The one-woman rapid-fire music comedy taps into the hilarity and pathos of everyday life. Alongside puppy school pandemonium, self-scanning checkout chaos at the supermarket, and a rendezvous with Chris Hemsworth, are anthems of disaster dates, pubic hair overshares, and helicopter pilots.

Recently returned from the Sydney Fringe Festival, Amalfi Roast was selected for the Best Cabaret and Musical Theatre shortlist and will take the show to the Melbourne Fringe Festival in October.

“This is a detour from my usual methodology, and it’s an equal measure of terrifying and completely thrilling, that’s testing and stretching me as a performer,” Naughton said.

“It is quite a vulnerable place to present from, but I’m loving that authenticity.

“I studied acting, and I love character, and the irony is not lost on me that this show is just me being completely me. That’s new territory.”

The singer, actor, and musician is a classically trained pianist, and leads the Byron-based Shire Choir.

She has toured with Bell Shakespeare Company and has fronted bands, including folk-pop outfit Scarlett Affection, kids’ band The Gumboots, performed in NORPA’s Wildskin, and co-written and performed in the award-winning musical New Blood.

Naughton said she found mining her life a therapeutic exercise.

“I love it. I’m honest. I’m not pretending, it’s warts and all,” she said.

“When I go to see comedy, I love when it’s that authentic truth, and we don’t have enough of that in life.

“There’s one song where I’m talking about my family’s routine compared to my friend’s son, who has such a spacious morning he has time to sit and read a novel on a couch, while my family is just a shit show.

“I think whichever side of the coin you fall on, it’s hard to maintain presence as a parent when you’re trying to do 1000 things.

“If you have experience with kids and chaos in the morning, people relate to all of that.

For Naughton, music has always been her primary vehicle of communication, and she said she had leaned into that truth with this show.

“I had a wonderful session with Mandy Nolan, who gave me some solid advice, which is that when you’re just one person, you’re collaborating with the audience.

“It’s a beautiful relationship that you’re building and that was a great nugget of gold, because that’s what I’ve discovered.

“That I’m talking directly to them, and they’re giving me an immediate response, so it’s a dance, and it’s a beautiful interaction.”

For tickets, visit byroncentre.com.au/theatre-events/amalfi-roast