Where: The Mill
When: 3-5 March
Tickets: here

“I’m Lucy. I’m 28. I’m from Adelaide.”

Lucy has just lived through some sort of apocalyptic disaster. She’s the sole human survivor that the aliens have saved. Welcome to her autoeulogy, the eulogy she is writing for herself.

Written and performed by Adelaide playwright Lucy Haas-Hennessy, Autoeulogy is predominantly a monologue. Lucy talks to herself, trying to understand her situation. How did she get there? It’s not important, we all can imagine how. She paces the stage, talking to herself. Trying to understand how she, one of 7 billion people, can be the only one left. Trying to understand how we all let this happen. Trying to understand what her future could now hold.

She occasionally breaks the fourth wall, urging the audience to consider answers to her questions. What’s happened in the news lately? In just eight weeks we have had fires and floods, dust and disease. Does this give us clues for how it all ends? And is there anything that is worth saving? These moments are hard but funny, bringing lightness to the despair.

Lucy’s writing and performance is strong. The show is funny and sad, it’s thoughtful and weird. Lucy all the while is a natural on stage, she’s genuine and charming and I don’t want her to stop talking.

Autoeulogy hits me hard. This show is important; it’s something everyone should see. It asks reflection of us, and of the lives we live. Lucy says when it all comes to an end, look back and we will understand how she got there. But really it’s not important how it happened. It’s important that we focus on the now, this middle part of the story, and we act.

4½ stars out of 5

— Natalie Carfora