Thank You and Goodnight
Camden People’s Theatre
Reviewed – 8th March 2020
★★★★
“a great performance from a brilliant performer”
“Thank you for having me. I mean, not having me…At least not yet.” As Emilia Stawicki begins her show, making her way round the audience and hitting on anyone who maintains eye contact, she manages to be both wildly uncomfortable and unfathomably confident.
Armed with only an education in jazz hands and Sondheim, and some serious Catholic guilt, Emilia takes us on a (very relatable) journey to discover what she wants romantically and sexually, and, of course, to answer that ever popular, make-you-want-to-punch-people-in-the-face question, “So why are you single?”
As with a lot of funny people, Emilia’s love life has been less with the wild sexy romances and more of a succession of gentle humiliations- dates ending in a firm handshake, or indeed a realisation that the other person is verifiably insane. It’s clear this is pretty much autobiographical, small measures of artistic licence aside, and being so vulnerable with an audience of strangers, there is, no doubt, a great capacity for humiliation. It’s lucky then that Emilia has such a talent for comic timing and story-telling, instead making the whole audience feel like her best buds on a night out with their funny friend.
With little by way of props or production, barring a flip chart with some key words spelled out nice and big, and a tiny crucifix hung on the back wall, Emilia carries the entire show with masterful physicality and delivery. In fact, her facial expressions are so descriptive, she could easily do the whole thing sat still in the middle of the stage, moving only her eyebrows.
As with all good comedy, there is a strand of sincerity which comes a little too suddenly, giving the audience no time to shake themselves out of the easy laughter generated over the past forty-five minutes. Regardless, we’re only really meditating on the serious for a moment or two before Stawicki swings back in to comedy at full force.
At only an hour, there isn’t really time for the mind to wonder, nonetheless the narrative could do with a little excess trimmed off. Even so, this is a great performance from a brilliant performer. I look forward to telling people I saw her when she was just starting out.
Reviewed by Miriam Sallon
Thank You and Goodnight
Camden People’s Theatre
Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
Hot Flushes – The Musical | ★★★ | June 2019
Form | ★★★★★ | August 2019
Muse | ★★ | August 2019
Ophelia Rewound | ★★★★ | August 2019
The Indecent Musings Of Miss Doncaster 2007 | ★★★½ | August 2019
A Haunted Existence | ★★★★ | October 2019
Trigger Warning | ★★★ | October 2019
I, Incel | ★★★ | November 2019
Sh!t Actually | ★★★★ | December 2019
Made From Love | ★★★½ | January 2020
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