Comedian Fran Middleton is branching out with her new spiritual comedy character Tara Bark at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
After a six-year hiatus from MICF, Middleton returns with a show that blends clowning, stand-up and therapeutic elements. Barklife with Tara Bark sees the comedian embodying a concussed tree who doubles as a mindfulness meditation teacher, promising visualisations, breathwork and possibly even a cameo from “kundalini the serpent.”
The character emerged from Middleton’s own spiritual journey, which has included earth connection teachings, shamanic journeying, and various meditation practices.
Barklife with Tara Bark
- Venue: Tasma Terrace, Melbourne
- Dates: April 7-20, 2025, 7:25pm every night
- Tickets here
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The show’s title pays homage to renowned mindfulness teacher Tara Brach, though Middleton’s character adds an arboreal twist. “Bark as the tree’s skin that is shed, like a snake. Continuous cycles of letting go of the old and becoming the new,” explains Middleton in her show notes.
Middleton’s previous MICF offerings have earned critical acclaim, with her 2017 show Ceiling Fran receiving a Golden Gibbo nomination. Beat Magazine described that performance as “absurd and otherworldly, one to watch,” while later shows Franny Pack (2018) and Fran Solo (2019) continued her tradition of quirky, boundary-pushing comedy.
The comedian reflects on the evolution of her work: “It’s an amalgam of all the things I’ve been drawn to over the years, reconnecting with the earth and the feminine, honouring indigenous wisdom around the world, ecological activism, mindfulness meditation, energy practices, and over a decade of experimenting with ‘solo’ comedy.”
A significant inspiration for the show came from Middleton’s connection with a specific tree in a Petersham park on Gadigal land. “I decided to walk barefoot in the park near me and let the grass lead the way, and I ended up at the base of an amazing tree that I hadn’t even noticed in that park before, and immediately thought of course – it’s the mother tree!”
Addressing whether her performance mocks spiritual practices, Middleton clarifies: “Some people ask if I’m mocking it, and my response is less mocking and more mirroring. The energy is different. It’s mocking myself and all of ourselves really, through this character, as an act of letting go of ego or attachment to individual self.”
Her philosophy on comedy itself has a spiritual dimension: “She (her character Tara Bark) is very playful and light and the view I’ve come to on comedy is that it is spiritual because a performer is a gift to an audience and the audience is a gift to the performer – it is like one big namaste – the light in me acknowledges the light in you.”
Since her last MICF appearance, Middleton has undertaken significant life changes, including relocating from Sydney to Fremantle, travelling solo across the Nullarbor (accompanied only by her rabbit Yoko), and most recently, moving into a van for a nomadic lifestyle.
“The intention of my show is to contribute to that sense of freedom in everyone to live in the now, allow the shedding of your own skin, as a human, a snake, a tree, and live your own Barklife, baby!”
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Fran Middleton.
