★★★★

“a clever and entertaining evening”

Rachel Parris hits a lot of classic millennial comedy topics: home ownership, tackling anxiety, the pressures of female perfection. But she does so with a slick confidence, and a consistency which makes her stand up shine.

Her freshest, sharpest jokes are in her patches of satire, as fans of The Mash Report will attest. In Poise she combines topical comedy (maybe national service could be utilised to tackle the childcare crisis) with some bits which are obviously older, her last tour was five years ago. Songs about Liz Truss and the queues at Dover are less topical now, but are still funny, and bring a warm nostalgia to the show.

Her particular brand of comic feminist song brought her prevalence on podcasts like The Guilty Feminist and these work well live, weaved into the whole show. She sits at the piano, belting out memorable songs like ‘What do Women Want?’ (Parris suggests it’s gloves…) and her take on the iconography of the Bond girl, which is a showstopping end to the night.

It’s not only politics though. Parris lays her trepidation about turning 40 bare – admitting her life is in a far better place than on her last tour. She is used to putting her personal life on display, she’s married to fellow comic Marcus Brigstocke, with whom she has a podcast ‘How Was it For You?’ But this show is carefully crafted, allowing the audience windows into her life, without ever going too deep, or baring too much.

Some parts are stronger than others, an a cappella folk number about the wisdom she’s gained with age is a weird note towards the end, though ties the themes together neatly.

There could be more of an overarching story across the show, but as a series of bits, broken up by comic songs which showcase her impressive vocal skills, this makes for a clever and entertaining evening.

FABULOUS CREATURES at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“Ismini Papaioannou’s costumes are brilliant, part cabaret part drag, they bring a vibrancy to the characters”

A hand snakes out from behind a glittering starry backdrop. Out slithers a performer, wrapped in glimmering metallic pleather – both mysterious and monstrous. ‘I am Charybdis a creature from the depths…’ their demeanour shifts, ‘and your host for the night!’

This is our chatty, flirty (and monstrous) MC (Hannah Van Der Westhuysen). They are joined by ‘Siren’ (Jazz Jenkins) and ‘Scylla’ (Kate Newman) to perform a series of musical numbers retelling and reclaiming their stories – ‘we used to kill and now we cabaret’. They are hopeful about rewriting history and no longer ‘being a step on a hero’s journey’. These are just some of the pithy and clever lyrics from writer and lyricist Quentin Beroud.

It’s entertaining, a little simplistic maybe, but a fun idea. But from a story perspective, it’s hard to know where it could go from there. This must have been a struggle for Beroud and writer/director Emily Louizou. The second act sees a more narrative driven story, where a mortal visits these monsters to ask for their help. At this point the energy changes, but the sombre tone and character led narrative have not been earned. A beautifully performed speech from Newman as the mortal feels a little hollow, in comparison to the campy caricatures of the beginning. The monsters, who’ve been caught in their dressing room, have shed some of their costume, which ruins the illusion. It is as if with their costume they’ve shed their extreme selves, and are much more human. It makes sense that there would need to be some story, but it clashes with the earlier tone and brings the whole energy down.

This is not the fault of the performers, all of whom are charismatic and complex. Jenkins has an incredible voice, Newman shows stark emotional range, and Van Der Westhuysen has a captivating stage presence.

Ismini Papaioannou’s costumes are brilliant, part cabaret part drag, they bring a vibrancy to the characters, and may be my favourite thing about this show. Scylla is imagined as a dog/human hybrid in an outfit made of wigs, Siren in an underwear as outerwear lingerie moment, with feathers and taloned boots. As mentioned, Charybdis is in skin-tight pleather, part seaweed part scales.

I’m not sure who the audience for this is. Retelling Greek myths is always popular, they’re great stories, and spinning them as tales of female empowerment and subjugation should work well. But this isn’t bringing anything new to the stories, apart from some great tunes (Irene Skylakaki) and joyous choreography (Ioli Filippakopoulou). While perhaps that is enough, the whole show feels strangely empty.

RACHEL PARRIS: POISE at Leicester Square Theatre

★★★★

“a clever and entertaining evening”

RACHEL PARRIS: POISE at Leicester Square Theatre

Reviewed on 5th June 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Karla Gowlett

Rachel Parris is touring with Poise until 20th October – click on the image below for tour dates and tickets

Previously reviewed at this venue:

RACHEL PARRIS

RACHEL PARRIS

FABULOUS CREATURES at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“Ismini Papaioannou’s costumes are brilliant, part cabaret part drag, they bring a vibrancy to the characters”

Reviewed on 28th May 2024

by Auriol Reddaway

Photography by Sophie Giddens

Previously reviewed at this venue:

FABULOUS CREATURES

FABULOUS CREATURES

Rachel Parris is touring with Poise until 20^th October – click on the image below for tour dates and tickets