I have lost count of the number of excellent Fringe or Cabaret Festival shows I have reviewed involving Libby O’Donovan. Two things always stand out.

The first is that O’Donovan is highly skilled at compiling a show around a theme. The second is that she is a highly skilled and generous collaborator. Standing a mighty four feet 11-and-a-half inches tall, the Broken Hill-raised O’Donovan teams up with the four-foot-eleven Coober Pedy-raised Michaela Berger to give us Short, a tribute to the pocket rockets (mostly female, but some male) of the entertainment industry.

Libby O’Donovan: Short. Photo © Claudio Raschella

Surprising a packed Space Theatre by entering from the back and moving to the front with a medley of Hello, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and You Raise Me Up, O’Donovan and Berger establish the theme.

Short people earn less than tall people. Short people have to be faster production workers than their taller counterparts. Short people do not get to be supermodels. If you believe Randy Newman, “Short People got no reason to live.”

However, it is not all bad. Short people are more likely to have careers in the...