Tag Archives: Mary Higgins

Fitter

Fitter

★★★★★

Soho Theatre

Fitter

Fitter

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 9th December 2019

★★★★★

 

“The comedy is frequent, and welcome. Because there are things here that are painful to listen to”

 

It is Monday evening. I am going to see Fitter at Soho Theatre, but I am killing time in a bookshop. I pick up a book about Dorothy Parker and flip through the pages. The first one I stop to read contains the poem “Symptom Recital”. And, all the way from 1936, Dorothy Parker strikes a chord when she says:

I shudder at the thought of men.’


Mary Higgins and Ell Potter also shudder at the thought of men. Their previous show, Hotter – a celebration/exploration/reclamation of bodies – was based on interviews with just about everyone except cis men. Obviously. Why would they want to speak to men? Beside, men don’t need a show.

Or maybe they do.

‘Maybe everyone needs a show.’

Part verbatim theatre, part performance art and part confession, Fitter is based on interviews with cis, trans, and masculine presenting men of all ages. Higgins and Potter ask them about their lives (emotional and physical), and use their answers to create a show that challenges popular misconceptions.

The audience’s expectations are dismantled at the same time as the performers’. Higgins and Potter know what the answer to their first question – ‘Would you rather be hard or soft?’ – will be. Until it ends up being the opposite. Emotional men don’t exist. Until they’re spotted crying at X Factor. It’s a well-known fact that men just want sex. Until they shock us by celebrating the emotional connection between themselves and their sexual partner.

Higgins and Potter lip-sync loving words between partners, recreate fights between pre-teen boys and play everyone from eight year olds to middle aged football fans. They also do a dance routine about douching. Which is one of the many gloriously silly moments that make this show so fun, in spite of its seriousness. Keeping the stage clear of set (with the exception of a small but significant green box), they fill it instead with energetic musical interludes that both add to the narrative and provide comic relief.

The comedy is frequent, and welcome. Because there are things here that are painful to listen to. Not just because they are beautifully written, not just because they are sensitively performed – but because they are true. Yes, some men are trash. Some are beyond trash, straying into “irredeemable” territory. But others are sensitive and thoughtful and kind. And they deserve to be uplifted. Fitter does not shy away from interrogating either. Instead, it celebrates the vulnerability of human life, the joys and fears of the individual, and the experience of coming together to watch two women redefine the male stereotype (and draw beards on each other).

On the bus home, I re-read “Symptom Recital”. It turns out that the relatable line is actually a rhyming couplet, paired with:

‘I’m due to fall in love again.’

I don’t think Fitter will make you fall in love with men. But it might help you understand them. And that, in and of itself, is a very valuable thing.

 

Reviewed by Harriet Corke

Photography by Holly Revell

 

Fitter

Soho Theatre

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
Mouthpiece | ★★★ | April 2019
Tumulus | ★★★★ | April 2019
William Andrews: Willy | ★★★★★ | April 2019
Does My Bomb Look Big In This? | ★★★★ | May 2019
Hotter | ★★★★★ | May 2019
Citysong | ★★★★ | June 2019
The View Upstairs | ★★★ | July 2019
It All | ★★★ | August 2019
The Starship Osiris | ★★★★★ | August 2019
What Girls Are Made Of | ★★★★ | September 2019

 

Click here to see our most recent reviews

 

Hotter
★★★★★

Soho Theatre

Hotter

Hotter

Soho Theatre

Reviewed – 1st May 2019

★★★★★

 

“most definitely a comedy, but as is the case with most brilliant comedies, it is rooted in something more serious”

 

If you absolutely MUST share your most acute weaknesses, your most graphic desires, your most fragile self, all while dancing like nobody’s watching, with ninety-odd people watching, you best make it worth a roaring standing ovation. In what they describe as a “sweaty verbatim dance party” Mary Higgins and Ell Potter (collectively ‘Hotter’) have created a show that is simultaneously vulgar to the extreme and yet overwhelmingly joyous and – somehow – wholesome.

Jessica Edwards directs a frenzied revue of the female and/or feminine experience, as told through a patchwork of verbatim answers from various women and trans people. The subject matter covers sex, sexiness, masturbation, menstruation, love, dancing, vulnerability, and insecurity. Answers are mostly lip-synced by Higgins and Potter who skilfully embody the assorted characters, and as each segment picks up pace, the recorded answers are mixed and remixed to become a surprisingly vibey dance track for some serious dance moves. As the duo gets ‘hotter’, layers of faux fur are steadily removed to reveal sequins and shimmer fabric, which in turn are peeled off to reveal neon spandex and, later, bras and knickers.

The ridiculousness of the show is not lost on the performers. In fact, their ability to laugh at themselves is part of what makes it such a joy to watch. But the thread that brings it all together – the ecstatic and erotic with the heart-felt and heart-breaking – is the sense that a community has been called upon to create it. Whilst there is a strong autobiographical element, it’s really just one story among many being told, as is made clear throughout with Higgins and Potter consistently citing all the women who contributed.

‘Hotter’ is most definitely a comedy, but as is the case with most brilliant comedies, it is rooted in something more serious. Potter and Higgins seem as afraid as anyone to expose themselves, both figuratively and physically, to an audience of total strangers, but they’ve done it anyway, and to great effect.

 

Reviewed by Miriam Sallon

Photography by Sophia Burnell

 


Hotter

Soho Theatre until 15th June

 

Last ten shows reviewed at this venue:
Cuckoo | ★★★ | November 2018
Chasing Bono | ★★★★ | December 2018
Laura | ★★★½ | December 2018
No Show | ★★★★ | January 2019
Garrett Millerick: Sunflower | ★★★★ | February 2019
Soft Animals | ★★★★ | February 2019
Angry Alan | ★★★★ | March 2019
Mouthpiece | ★★★ | April 2019
Tumulus | ★★★★ | April 2019
William Andrews: Willy | ★★★★★ | April 2019

 

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