Amelia Ryan Is Lady Liberty: In The Pursuit Of Life at The Garden Of Unearthly Deligths – Adelaide Fringe Review

The Garden of Unearthly Delights - The Factory, Tue 23 Feb Amelia Ryan is a lady in pursuit: the pursuit of happiness, the pursuit of love, and most importantly, the pursuit of liberation. Wearing a shiny dress that almost matches her sparkling personality, Ryan speaks about all types of liberation that she has encountered in her life and wants you to find: sexual liberation, gay liberation, even physical liberation and why they are so important. She also speaks about how she has become disillusioned in her pursuit of liberation, and what she has learned over the course of her journey. Ryan performs a range of songs, from Queen to Whitney Houston, cleverly changing the lyrics to suit the theme (though at times the lyrics were a bit hard to hear, which was a disappointment: would love to hear more of them!). There were costume changes, alcohol and even a funny PowerPoint presentation of Ryan’s personal heroes. Amelia Ryan speaks (and sings) to the audience about her adventures, from going to New York City and back again, and she does so in an honest way that you feel as if you are listening to one of your girlfriends. This was especially true when she performed a game of Never Have I Ever with audience members over champagne. I also enjoyed her skewering of today’s incessant need to hash tag and post, reminding us that what we see on our phones or computers isn’t necessarily what is most important. Whether you Instagram your iced coffees, repeatedly used #blessed, or have slept with a Nigerian Prince, you will be able to relate to Ryan’s stories. In the end, Ryan concludes the biggest liberation we can have is liberating ourselves from the madness of “having it all”. We all have different things that make us feel liberated-so let’s celebrate that! Elizabeth Harnett Amelia Ryan Is Lady Liberty continues at The Garden Of Unearthly Delights - The Factory from 8pm until Sun 13 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.