_{Cover Image: Gabrielle Wilson in Gabby Goes to Hollywood. Image by Shem Parkins.}

Gabby Goes to Hollywood by Gabrielle Wilson

The Blue Room Theatre

25 August to 5 September, 2026

Gabby Goes to Hollywood is an exploration of identity and mental illness wrapped in a comedic semi-autobiographical cabaret written by and starring WAAPA graduate Gabrielle Wilson and presented by Wilson, co-producer MJ Anderson-Hyde and dramaturg Eliza Smith.

Raw, powerful emotion is on display from Wilson’s first step on stage, demonstrating the highs, the lows and the in-betweens of bipolar II, depression and suicidal ideation. It’s brutal. It’s heartbreaking – but tinged with hope. Wilson shares her own experience with such vulnerability that you can’t look away, and knowing how personal it is makes the performance more compelling.

Filled with revealing costumes, provocative gestures and profanities galore, it’s important to remember that this production is not suited for under-18s. The trigger warning list encapsulates what you need to know and should not be skipped in the pre-show reading.

The audience walks into a jazz club with dim lighting and smoky haze. On tables are ash trays filled with pills, cigarette butts and condom wrappers. Hanging from the ceiling are empty containers with recognisable medication labels and blister packs.

The show features 12 original songs, accompanied by Lachlan Edinger on piano, who is in many ways the perfect accompanist: almost forgotten until he plays, never missing a note or entrance, only interacting with Gabby at the end to hand her a letter which she reads out loud.

Each of the numbers has a different feel, varying in genre and style of singing. From operatic to jazz to spoken word, you never know what to expect as they come first in quick succession, then, as Gabby spirals into depression and mental health struggles, spread out, devoting more time to emotional monologues.

One notable highlight is Jay Covich’s lighting, which changes as rapidly as Gabby’s moods: blue for depression, red for mania. Not only does the lighting reflect the representation of living with mental illness, it allows the audience to feel that same whiplash. Moments of black-and-white spotlights make Gabby look like a Hollywood starlet.

Costume designer Liana Karkar does much with little, with the first costume consisting of a small G-string and lingerie, and the second a sparkling straitjacket worn over the top, taking Gabrielle’s on-stage vulnerability to the extreme.

During the preview night, Wilson showed nerves in the first number, her voice breathy and a little pitchy at points. But that breathiness evaporated once she settled into the show and her confidence grew, going from merely reciting the words to performing them. She conveyed the switch between depression and mania perfectly – devastating to watch, not an actress playing a role, but her real life. There were tears, continuing into the penultimate song as the lights faded to black. Gabby compares living with bipolar to a black hole: a strong force that doesn’t exist, something that “wants to be alive so much it consumes itself” – a statement that cast silence over the audience.

Gabby Goes to Hollywood asks how we can rebuild our self-identity when the foundation falls away. Using her own experience, Wilson explores the journey to healing, inviting the audience to look inwards with her. Going as far as sharing a shocking statistic that one in five people with bipolar don’t make it, she addresses a very real problem in a way that is equal parts entertaining and thought-provoking.

Gabby Goes to Hollywood