Space Invaders with Nicola Brown
20th - 28th February at The Gallery, The Howling Owl - Adelaide Fringe Festival 2026 https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/nicola-brown-space-invaders-af2026
“I do take people on a bit of a journey about what happened when I sought healthcare from different places, and I take a few shots at doctors’ communication in a fun way”
In conversation with New Zealand Comedian + Clinical Psychologist, Nicola Brown, we discuss comedy as a portal for difficult truths to be aired, shared + heard, in the spirit of social advocacy. We venture into Nicola’s colourful journey since recently entering the world of Fringe + performance.
“One of the best ways of bringing taboo things into the light is with comedy”
Nicola shares that her show is autobiographical, exploring women’s and pelvic health alongside queer experience, using humour, storytelling and visual elements to examine identity, care, and what happens when bodies don’t behave as expected. Public speaking has always played a big part in Nicola’s career - she used to be a medical school lecturer + learned a lot about how to be entertaining to get her students out of bed + onside when she was given the Monday 8am slot. She also continues with public speaking alongside 3 days a week as a Clinical Psychologist, so looking back on her interests + skills, we could see how becoming a comedian would be a logical next step! Alongside her comedy, Nicola has a wife + an 18-year-old son + is currently writing an essay collection.
“I’ve never been to a festival anywhere near as big as this - the program looks like a telephone book - you’re part of a much, much, much bigger thing, and you’re a tiny part of it, and that’s humbling”
Space Invaders has gone down a huge success in Aotearoa, New Zealand. From humble beginnings, Nicola began sharing material with friends in her living room - a memorable part of her creative process. The show then previewed in Christchurch + immediately got picked up by the media, featuring in the local newspaper. Nicola then debuted her show at Dunedin Fringe 2024 + won an award that allowed her to take her show up to Auckland Fringe. She also applied for and received a New Zealand Fringe-Touring grant, which allowed her to take Space Invaders to Auckland and NZ Fringe Fests. At Auckland Fringe she won two awards: Best Comedy and TAHI Festival Outstanding Solo Performance. Before she knew it, Nicola had then applied for and was awarded an Adelaide Fringe Foundation grant, which is what’s supporting her to be here now. An incredibly quick kickstart into her comedy career! She mentioned that after her success back home, she feels aware of the scale of Adelaide Fringe, with the last-minute ticket sales + big competition to get bums on seats. After having previous support from a producer back home, this international season is self-produced, which has presented a whole new marketing challenge for her.
“Some of my favourite shows I’ve ever done have actually been really, really small ones.”
The big performance tents + the gardens stir a lot of excitement in Nicola - she can’t wait to stroll around and discover a set-up she’s never seen before. And she is so enthusiastic to meet other artists + make connections. She’s very curious about more intimate performances + has been exploring ways to perform the show in a way that creates conversation + interaction with people - so that no matter the size of the audience, folks are guaranteed a meaningful experience. Nicola is already in the process of making her next show, this time with more collaborators, with the hope of completing this by the end of the year. Within this industry we really do learn how to make shows on the job - what I’ve noticed, with my friends + many artists I have spoken to, is the creative process is usually great, but finding sustainable ways to care for oneself through the festival buzz seems to take more time. Nicola shared that she is still trying to figure out how to bring her adrenaline down post-performance + get enough rest - which is still a mystery to many!
“I put links together because I sit around thinking and living and breathing comedy”
As a newer comedian on the block, Nicola is so chuffed to be able to share her story + be political + that people want to hear it. She’s had people send her gifts + share more information online that she could include within the show. She has definitely seen how performing can generate such a sense of community - I hope she has the same experience this season.
My Review
Space Invaders is a queer comedy heaven - there’s horoscopes, crochet clitorises + plenty of opportunities to belly laugh at male Facebook stalkers. Nicola our gen X lesbian mum takes us through a vast, hilarious + sometimes absurd tapestry of her life experiences, all the while, with a warm curiosity about ours.
Within the first 5 minutes, she was asking us for relationship advice + for the best ways to get the lesbians of Adelaide to come to her show. As a clinical psychologist who I imagine spends a lot of her time listening + making space for others, I immediately got the sense that Nicola revels in the freedom of being on stage + having total creative autonomy in her presentation. I also love performers who have the confidence to name what’s going on + to ask us for our opinions in a show - Nicola was fearless + spontaneous in her audience interaction which immediately disarmed us + made us feel part of her show from the very beginning. As an astrology fan, I particularly loved the moment where she cheekily guessed an audience member’s star-sign after he said he didn’t believe in horoscopes haha! (She guessed Capricorn, obviously…)
The show’s structure really embellished everything I learned about Nicola in our interview with much humour + many surprises. This ex-medical lecturer + slide-show queen somehow managed to make a Venn diagram into a ridiculously funny punchline that then became an even funnier call back throughout. Her transitions between bits + stories were as cosmic as the night sky in her backdrop - unpredictable, absurd, yet perfect: her voice note response to one of her Facebook stalkers, ‘Aaron’, was hands down one of my absolute favourite plot twists I have seen on a comedy stage. Nicola’s ability to boldly link stories from totally different contexts brings a unique + satisfying quality to this work.
When the show took a turn to focus more on woman’s health + Nicola’s condition, our laughter became laced with shock as we realised the statistics of humans who struggle with this condition to be much more common than one could expect. With scientific confidence + a shameless demeanour, Nicola spoke up about her mixed experiences with medical professionals + in doing so, Nicola also spoke up for the millions of people who have been mistreated + misdiagnosed in this system. As someone who has a neuro-hormonal condition who also falls into this category of being medically ‘misunderstood’, it felt like a beautiful exchange of rage + hope - if we talk about it more, maybe we can change the system.
This NZ comedy show has got the perfect balance of queer, absurd, heart + nerd. Nicola absolutely deserves more bums on seats this season - statistically there are way too many people who need to see this show to not show up! Get down to Howling Owl + witness the warm presence of Nicola Brown - she’s got the funny bones for sure.