There’s a sign on the stage encouraging us to laugh at “the trauma – LOL” in big friendly letters. Tovey’s opening song says not to worry about her mental health, that she’s not so fragile, preparing against the danger of over-empathising – the antithesis to laughter. We’re braced. But frankly it’s unnecessary as what follows is an engaging and heartfelt story of the Australian penal system and Tovey’s father’s journey through it.
Tovey is a television comedy writer, a talented singer, and a performer, but the audience connection and laughter tempo usually synonymous with stand-up is strangely absent. Once you’ve got that out of the way and shifted mindset to storytelling, Glass Houses is a lot more relatable and easy to get on board with. It’s well structured, interesting, informative, and heartfelt. Tovey is performative in her delivery, each cue clearly rehearsed, but perhaps that is what is needed for something about which she feels the need to re-assure us she’s okay about, when nothing included within the show gives the impression that she’s acting out or in any mental health danger.
It’s clear that the family have weathered the experience together, without dwelling on the act that resulted in her father’s incarceration. Tovey’s anger at the system that is broken – and in what ways it is broken – is understandable, and she communicates it with a level head and with heart. Glass Houses takes away the ‘otherness’ of a prison experience for a lot of people, patiently explaining and openly sharing Tovey’s story in a bid to share a bigger one.
Alice Tovey: Glass Houses, 21.55, Delhi Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate, 21.55, until 24 August (except 11t)
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/alice-tovey-glass-houses
