Jacinta Gregory is an impressive cabaret  artist..

Sydney Arts Guide has covered her shows once before. Judith Greenaway wrote a very positive review of her show Jacintegrating at the Factory Theatre in March 2017.

Similarly to 2017, Gregory was backed by a fine mini orchestra; keyboard, double bass and violin.

During the show Gregory revealed that she came up with the idea for her current show six years ago and has been ‘playing around’ with it since.

The show’s quirky premise is that Jacinta feels that her life has gone off the rails and rather than waiting for her family or friends or a  mixture thereof  to  organise an intervention she  beats them to it and calls an intervention on herself.

Interventions are generally very grim affairs. Not in Gregory’s case.

As we took our seats we picked up our party hat. Hanging from the walls were balloons. Gregory entered the stage in a celebratory mood. Well sort of. It was as if it was her birthday! Quirky and bizarre.

Gregory introduces us to her therapist who is sitting in a chair at the side of the stage.  We soon realise that a bit of a therapy session is happening with her therapist getting serious, asking some searching  questions and making notes in her notebook. The questions are a bit predictable and cringe worthy.

So this is how the show starts, an unusual blend of the comic and the intense.

The show then settles in; there are plenty of songs, some being riffs of show tunes. Gregory reveals some of the hurdles she has had to overcome, including a difficult early family life and issues around sexuality.Gregory shows off a strong voice and the band are great.  The show includes plenty of fun audience interaction. At one time she gives personal letters to audience members  to read  aloud, written by intimates, expressing their concern for her.  There is an inference that  the super neurotic (this is how Gregory describes herself) has written the letters herself.

There is a third player, an actress who makes ‘dramatic’ entrances and exits through the  centre aisle. My favourite scene is when she enters with a flourish in a bright red  gown as Kate Bush and Greg0ry riffs of the Bush classic ‘Wuthering Heights’. Bush makes a few appearances during the show. Bush makes more than one appearance during the show. Clearly Bush, and the energy that she radiates, plays an important part in Gregory’s life.

A  warm, effusive performer, Gregory’s engaging show MY INTERVENTION played as the Late Show at the  Old Fitz between the 13th and 17th March 2024.