Returning to the Garden of Unearthly Delights is none other than Fringe favourite Effie, with her hilarious new stage show Frigid to Feral.
Mary Coustas is the creative genius behind Effie. She is a true icon of Australian comedy. Mary has performed on stage, in film, and at public speaking engagements, and written books and scripts for stage shows.
Mary and Effie spoke to Glam Adelaide about Effie’s new show, Mary’s brand new book, and what it is about the Adelaide Fringe and Adelaide in general that Effie loves.
EFFIE:
“Seriously it’s like a walk of hilarity, yous know, all steamy, all in the one place. A variety of different options – vegetables and meats that are tossed around in that beautiful gastronomic capital of Australia. I loves Adelaide. I think Adelaide is one of the most exciting places culturally in the country. You’ve got your wine region there just there – good, thanks! It’s not up itself in a shallow way. It has depth and the thing I love most about Adelaide is it’s so pro-festival, people gathering all together, yous know, and laughing and discovering different performers and different things to eat and great little areas to just have a refreshing beer and have a wine. Everyone gets value out of it. It is unbelievable. I am stunned at how brilliant Adelaide does this stuff – no one does it better.”
We asked Mary how important the relationship is between Effie and the audience.
MARY:
“It’s just one of the relationships I have never taken for granted. I try to give them my best every single time. I want them to feel seen and heard. I want to be the best version of them and the pettiest version of them and the most honest version of them. When I do that character, I really feel like we’re one in many ways. They build this trust with me. The first half of the show is always Effie just throwing herself under the bus constantly. She’s struggling with something and this is her therapy. She stands in front of her people and she spills her guts. She goes through the details of her thinking and her life and her worries and all of that. Then by then it’s like this brilliant foreplay lubricant and then the audiences are good to go. They open up and tell her just about anything during the improv section of the show.”
At the end of 2025, Mary launched a new book, Marypause, tackling menopause head-on.
Marypause is a funny, raw, and physical story — part reflection, part memoir. It explores the unpredictable terrain of menopause and the toll it takes on women and relationships, while injecting her trademark comedy to lighten the mental load.
In addition to providing insight into how confusing the female body can be to those who inhabit it, the book will reveal some of Mary’s most important work in the past 12 months: the launch of a telehealth clinic dedicated to perimenopause and mid-life health for women.
MARY:
“No one should ever feel alone with something, and no one should let themselves get to the worst place because of their lack of understanding of something or the lack of information about something or the lack of support around it. I really feel that my platform allows me to talk about whatever I’ve been through and put it somewhere where it can impact, mostly with laughter and recognition. And then, with something that’s medical and hormonal like menopause, I’ll get the best doctors I can find to be able to deliver the best for women who deserve the best. Many women can’t even get to a GP. They’re an hour away, 10% of the population are an hour away from the GP. That’s if that GP knows anything about menopause, which many don’t. It’s a massive problem that I wanted to help eradicate, or at least draw attention to.”
Effie returns to the Fringe with Frigid to Feral. There’s no denying the world is changing, and Effie is changing with it.
MARY:
“This is about Effie’s next stage in life. Effie is going through a really hard time. She’s becoming unrecognisable to herself. Things have started to change in ways that just don’t make sense. She married the love of her life, and things are great. She’s losing patience, she’s losing, you know, capacity, she’s losing fluids. She doesn’t know what’s going on, and she doesn’t want to lose her marriage. She feels like she’s losing her mind. I think the audience really relate because they’ve grown with me. And a lot of what she talks about is a lot of what they’re going through. And life can get hard, and as you age, things change. So she’s fighting for her life and her marriage.”
EFFIE:
“Look, I go deep with my audience. Yous know, as much as I might appear shallow – because I’m very pro aesthetics, I like to look good, I put a lot of effort in to look good – in this show I go deep. I think this show would be like a comical and psychological Pap smear.”
Join Effie (and Mary!) as she explores her past, her present, her life and loves, and unravels a conspiracy so massive, it’ll blow dry your mind.
Effie – Frigid to Feral
Adelaide Fringe
The Spiegeltent — Garden Of Unearthly Delights
February 19 – 22
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/effie-frigid-to-feral-af2026
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