Elouise Eftos brings her second Edinburgh festival show, Aphrodite, to Pleasance Dome, following up her acclaimed 2025 debut Australia's First Attractive Comedian. In this hour-long standup set, the Greek-Australian comic performs in character as the goddess Aphrodite, who interrupts and heckles her via voiceover throughout, as she explores whether love is real and examines the divide between women expected to be either desirable or clever, but rarely both.

The show opens with a stylised pop video before moving into material on flirting, the historical roots of misogyny in medicine and religion, and darker territory including violent pornography. A more personal, emotional passage recounts her grandmother's constrained life, lending weight to Eftos's scepticism about romance amid persistent gender inequality, though the reviewer feels this argument is never fully resolved by the show's close. Despite a slightly indistinct ending, the review praises Aphrodite as sharp, funny and thought-provoking, confirming Eftos as a compelling new comedy talent; it runs at Pleasance Dome until 30 August.