Are You Pulling My Leg?

Disability advocate and award-winning comedian Madeleine Stewart charms audiences everywhere with a sweet demeanour, veiling razor-sharp wit. You may have seen Madeleine perform with Adam Hills, Rove McManus, or Reuben Kaye or caught her episode on Dylan Alcott’s Listen-Able podcast. Her viral sketch on Marriage Equality for ABC i view reached 2.7mil views on insta, showcased her ground-breaking exploration of disability and Centrelink. Practicing what she preaches, Madeleine won the AMP Tomorrow maker award for her production of inclusive, accessible comedy shows-specifically Crips & Creeps and her short film ‘Inspire Me’ has just won Best Documentary at the Australian Independent Film Festival (AIFF).

Bec Charlwood is a comedian, podcaster and writer. She has opened for big names such as Alan Carr, Wil Anderson, Joanne McNally, Jay Pharoah(SNL) and Josh Thomas. She’s appeared on the Project & as a panelist on the most recent season of Spicks and Specks, which she was also a writer on. She is currently a host on Triple J and released her most recent special ‘Bipolar Baby’ on Youtube this year all about being diagnosed with Bipolar Type II and the parts of mental illness that you probably won’t hear about on R U Ok? day. She’s performed at the Sydney Opera House, Splendour In The Grass and The Enmore Theatre many times. And she’s very proud you made it all the way to the end of her bio, it was really hard to write all this bragging in the third person.

Born into an ethnically diverse family to his Italian mother and Arab father Jamal, at three months old was diagnosed with a rare eye condition which is the cause of his blindness. From the very beginning, he was an outsider observing the world and the people around him from a perspective not many would share with him. It’s Jamal’s ‘I’m not weird, you’re weird’ attitude that makes his stand-up comedy performances so unique. Jamal began making waves in the Sydney comedy scene after winning the Stand Up and Be Counted Comedy Competition in 2017. He then became a RAW Comedy State Finalist in 2018 further legitimising himself as a Sydney comedy mainstay. Now, a regular at the Sydney Comedy Store and Happy Endings Comedy Club, Jamal has begun to attract diverse audience with his straight-out style of stand-up comedy. He has since gone on to self-produce his own sell out shows at the Sydney Comedy Festival and has been selected to tour around Australia in the ‘Are You Pulling My Leg?’ Comedy Showcase produced by Accessible Arts.

Irene Nicola is Sydney’s joyfully chaotic clown of burlesque, musical comedy and cabaret. Having written and performed her own original work for over a decade, Irene is a delight on any lineup. Irene has performed in the cabaret and burlesque spaces independently across Australia with her original one-woman cabaret variety-style shows, ‘A Postmodern Striptease’(2013-2017) ‘Revenge (2018), and the multiple award-nominated ‘Apocalypse Please’(2019-2023).Irene was a finalist in the Sydney Cabaret Competition (Sydney Cabaret Festival 2019) and performs regularly at Bamboozle Room’s ‘Talk and Tease’. She’s also working on a brand-new musical, ‘Mary Mary’, as composer, musical director and script consultant.

Sam Wade is a comedian and content creator, based in old Sydney town. After selling out his debut hour ‘Inner World’ at Sydney Fringe in 2018, he has gone on to crush at the Sydney Comedy Festival with ‘Mind Cave’ in 2021 and ‘Vs The Void’ in 2022-23. He has guest starred and script consulted for hit DnD-based web series ‘1 For All’, garnering a cult following amongst its 700k-strong audience. He also has Autism, loves talking about neurodivergence, and has a laugh that has been described as “an obnoxious honk, like a goose being used as a bagpipe”. Whether on stage, on screen or just laughing in the back of a room, Sam Wade is a guaranteed goodtime.

Comedians

Madeleine Stewart
Bec Charlwood
Jamal Abdul
Irene Nicola
Sam Wade

Hero Image Photo Credit Monica Pronk

In English

Wheelchair accessible

Companion Card accepted

Assistive Hearing system available (FM)

Auslan Interpreted, Open Captioned & Relaxed Performance available

AUSLAN INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE

Saturday 20 July at 8pm 

Auslan (Australian Sign Language) is used by the Deaf community in Australia. The aural cues that are essential to the storytelling and the theatrical experience are translated into sign language by Auslan interpreters discreetly positioned to the side of the stage for comfortable viewing by Deaf patrons. Patrons requiring this service, please select the section closest to the interpreter to ensure good sightlines.

OPEN CAPTIONED (OC) PERFORMANCE

Saturday 20 July at 8pm

Open Captions are visual text displayed on screens during the performance, enabling audiences to read what is being said. Caption text is prepared from the script of the performance by highly trained staff. Where open captioning is provided, it is visible from almost all seats in our venues. Please contact our Box Office if you would like further information.

RELAXED PERFORMANCE

Saturday 20 July at 8pm

Relaxed performances (RP) are open to everyone, but with modifications to sound and lighting to be more suited to patrons with autism, individuals with other disabilities that create sensory sensitivities and anyone who would benefit from a more relaxed environment.

Find out more about accessibility at Riverside Theatres

$5.95 Transaction Fee applies.

The authorised ticket agency for this event is Riverside Theatres.

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