We all seek inspiration. Some of us look to our partners. Others seek it from the cosmos. And some seek it on-stage in front of an obsessed live audience.

A Muse has Jak Darling searching for just that in a series of introspective, naughty, and aggressively non-binary vignettes that never cease to draw heavy swaths of laughter from the audience. Off-stage, Lighting Operator Sanjay Parbhu and Director Alia Marshall fill out the back-end and together the trio deliver a smooth professional experience that straddles the line between stand-up and theatre.

It’s so appropriate that it’s hard to tell what genre this show really falls into, given its non-binary content, and that absolutely feels like that’s part of the plan. Every piece is nuanced to an extent that you’re never certain in what direction a bit is going to go. Just when you think you’ve pegged what kind of comedy you’re settling in for, they divert you into a completely different vibe, making you feel like you’re being thrown from track to track.

The beauty here is that there are no tracks.

Throughout the show, we return to the central throughline, that Jak is unable to find a muse that truly inspires them. It’s a great framing device that I’d love to see reinforced a little more between sections, but it never feels completely forgotten, nor is it treated like an afterthought. In fact, nothing here feels like an afterthought.

Jak tackles so many different styles of performance, from poetry, to song, to fashion to a re-enactment of a Christchurch party, and they nail every single one. They are an insanely magnetic performer who draws us in with their sweetness and punches a laugh out of us with a one-liner more stunning than their dresses. The only time their charisma stumbles is when they break their flow ever so briefly to ask the audience if they’d like to see something they’re clearly about to do. It’s actually a testament to how much the audience is enjoying themselves that they immediately whoop and cheer, just to cut down the wait for the next amazing thing Jak is going to pull out.

Part of this is because everything runs so smoothly. It’s unclear if Jak is a mistrum of timing themself to a recording, or if Sanjay in the tech booth is a god of sound boards, but between the two of them, the lighting, the sounds, and the cues are just so cleanly executed. There are a couple of stumbles, which are only noticeable due to how well run everything else is. This is a well-oiled, well-rehearsed machine of a show, and even director Alia makes live adjustments and hops on-stage to keep everything running smoothly. What she did, I have no idea. That’s the point. Everything just works.

A Muse is an unapologetically, hilarious delve into the concept of muses through an enlightening non-binary lens.  The show never ceases to amaze, delight or shock, sometimes all at once. It is a phenomenal showcase of the many talents that Jak Darling has holstered in their repertoire, all while looking incredible on-stage. By the end, you’ll find yourself laughing at jokes from ten minutes ago that just clicked, and a warm delight from the oddly raunchy wholesomeness of it all.

Also, I learned what douching was.

Tickets were provided to me for free by the production. This has no impact on the review.