When I turned up to #UGLYCRY: grief hits different now after a long, sweaty day, I was not expecting to be confronted by the raw, messy emotional rollercoaster that is grief and, in turn, this show.

Katie Mack starts the dialogue that is #UGLYCRY: grief hits different now by greeting guests as they enter, all the while, energetically walking on a treadmill. (To my delight and surprise, this treadmill would become its own supporting act.) I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure where the show began and reality ended; a feeling only furthered with Mack’s encouragement for us to break the social code of viewership and get our smartphones out to scan QR codes and participate ourselves.

#UGLYCRY: grief hits different now is unpredictable, honest, and messy in all the right ways. Mack takes us from acting like an entitled white woman to running away from her feelings to hiding behind social media and the internet for safety. At no point during this show could I tell what was a retelling of a real experience or what was a creative liberty taken for dramatic effect. Mack’s exposure of herself made me laugh, cry, and sing, and then take myself home to sit in the dark and #uglycry.

#UGLYCRY: grief hits different now deserves a full house every night. Mack’s exploration of an emotion as old as human experience contextualized by the contemporary looming presence of the internet will open your eyes to how you may still be living in that fleeting moment between depression and acceptance, in which no one is dead.

Let Mack hold your hand as she charges headfirst into the ugly journey that is grief, smartphone a ready weapon on your quest. It was an honour to see Katie Mack’s story travelled all the way from New York to grace our humble Perth stage; my only regret is that I can’t follow her wherever she goes just to see what she does next.