Amanda Dywer isn’t some people-pleasing comedian trying to win over an audience. With her caustic, deadpan delivery, she doesn’t so much warm up a room as cut through it, puncturing the silence with acerbic, dry observations. However, you still can’t help but lean closer, waiting to hear what she’s going to say next. To quote TikTok wisdom: Dwyer doesn’t chase, she attracts.
Such is the case with her debut Fringe show Better Than Revenge: a tongue-in-cheek, almost trolling, engagement with the stereotype that female comedians are all misandrists. If you happen to be of the AMAB (all men are bastards) persuasion, you won’t be surprised by the topics of discussion: namely the sordid deeds of men, starting from her adolescence.
However, rather than sticking to the territory of low effort boyfriends and dating app lotharios – which have become synonymous with Instagram-friendly female comedians – she sharply swerves the frothy, Men are from Mars-style observations. Instead, two tales of sharp, jagged trauma are explored: episodes of physical and sexual assault from her high school boyfriend, and revenge porn threats from a man she met on an online mental health forum.
Safe to say, Better Than Revenge might not be an easy watch: but there is power in the pathos. Dwyer’s uncompromising style is a revelation when it comes to denying the easy catharsis of typical survivor narratives. Instead, she rejects the clichés and brings us on her own, idiosyncratic journey through shame, rage and what comes after – using humour as a coping mechanism, of course.
Amanda Dwyer: Better Than Revenge, The Stand Comedy Club, until 30 Aug (not 17), 6pm