MAISIE ADAM – APPRAISAL at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House

★★★★

“a welcomingly confrontational and awkward evening of stand-up with a bit of something for everyone”

On the biggest night of her new tour, Maisie Adam presents a raucous night of heckling the audience right back, and journeying through the humour in everything, from coil “re-fittings”, awful gameshow appearances, and the class politics of wild water swimming in Brighton.

A rising TV favourite, Adam is a talented comedian who is hell-bent on providing both an “accurate” and “detailed” set (if she has learnt anything from mishearing previous hook-ups or gigging in Sweden). Appraisal takes the audience through a review of Adam’s current life, career, and relationship statuses, with punchlines that keep the crowd on side from start to finish. We are treated to a review of Adam’s state of being in comedy – with a closing segment dissecting the age-old question of what it’s like to be a woman in comedy. Adam’s reckons it’s much like being any other woman, performing odd rituals and actions to keep safe on a walk home, and syncing periods with the closest women around you (in this case, Adam’s front row at the Tyne Theatre and Opera House). Although this section of the set feels a bit out of nowhere, it did well to keep the laughs rolling through the audience.

The first act features Adam’s skilful crowd work, warming everyone up to what is essentially a slagging off with an audience. Be warned not to sit in the box at any future tour dates at beautiful proscenium-arched venues, you may be unwillingly entered into a “who is posher” contest, and it will, in fact, be hilarious for everyone involved, but you. It is a true joy to watch Adam’s improvised crowd-work in action, as she turns vague responses into weapons against punters before they can whoop overenthusiastically for the name of the city they travelled to Newcastle from. Adam’s is brilliant at rolling with the oddities of her audience and playing to the strangeness of their behaviour and responses. A particular shoutout must go to the gentleman in the front-row who very obviously legged it at the first brief mention that there might be an interval coming up. Adam’s dealt with him with a hilarious level of disbelief and we relished in the “fair enough” attitude the brilliantly timed awkward moment produced.

After the interval, Adam’s gives herself some feedback (good and bad) on how her life is going, along with astute and hilarious observations on the absurdity of being in your late twenties/early thirties and being surrounded by your oddly grown-up school friends who are still kids at heart, along with your parents who desperately need a quick word on their peculiar use of emojis. We are also treated to a very funny whistle stop tour of Adam’s treacherous gameshow features and cameos, from being a contestant on The Chase, to claiming an embarrassing level of obscurity on Pointless, as an answer.

For the most part, Adam’s lands blow after blow of hilarious self-deprecating jokes, and creates an atmosphere that will have everyone grinning from ear to ear (whether you are a middle-aged dad with a flip-phone case or one of Adam’s many younger lesbian fans). Maisie Adam’s: Appraisal is a welcomingly confrontational and awkward evening of stand-up with a bit of something for everyone. This show deserves all the praise it gets.

MAISIE ADAM – APPRAISAL

★★★★

UK Tour

MAISIE ADAM – APPRAISAL at the Tyne Theatre & Opera House

★★★★

“a welcomingly confrontational and awkward evening of stand-up with a bit of something for everyone”