Trying to find the one while half the world away from home is difficult, especially when your family is pressuring you to settle down. Safety Banana explores the story of a backpacker trying to navigate the world, as well as her family’s expectations, and find love at the same time.

Safety Banana is a short thirty minute experience, held upstairs in the Loft theatre space at The A Club. The premise sees performer Jacinda Patty waiting with her travelling companion – her safety banana – at a backpackers hostel for a rendezvous with who she thinks may be “the one.” While waiting the audience hears stories of Jacinda’s previous romances from her travels, with each tale relayed with a mixture of story and dance, and a dash of humour.

The best parts of Safety Banana were the dance performances, with each one cleverly weaved into the story to represent a travel experience. Jacinda is a talented dancer and this shone through during the performance, with her roller skating being a highlight. There were also moments of relatable humour around Jacinda’s interaction with her safety banana, with the inanimate object offering some acute honesty about her love life. These moments got a few laughs, as anyone with exasperated parents wanting them to settle down and get married could probably relate to the banana’s criticisms.

In contrast to the dancing were a lot of moments of silence and little movement, where Jacinda was waiting for her friend to arrive. While these parts had the desired effect of making us feel like we were waiting right with Jacinda, it also halted the narrative somewhat, and I felt like on a few occasions I was waiting for something to happen. While only thirty minutes in length, the show probably needed a little more material to pad it out, so it felt like the run time was justified.

Safety Banana is an interesting and humorous performance based around the premise of finding and losing love, a universally relatable experience. Jacinda Patty has put together a show that offers some humour and great dance performances, and certainly has the makings of a great writer and performer. Safety Banana is a good, short experience, which may leave you reminiscing about your backpacking days after.

3 Stars

Safety Banana runs until Saturday 16^th of March. Buy tickets HERE.

By Tania Nicholas