list.co.uk/festival Reviews | FESTIVAL COMEDY
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JOHN PENDAL: WE ARE FAMILY Uncovering excitingly dirty laundry ●●●●● SINDHU VEE: SANDHOG Trinket-laden assessment of the US ●●●●●
Tapping into our current obsession with family trees, John Pendal’s second solo Fringe show looks at his own lineage having finally found something to talk about with his ordinarily monosyllabic father. The comic’s preoccupation is that he’s the last of a long line of staunch Baptist Pendals, and that as a gay man who’s not planning on having any children, the name is likely to die with him. There’s a universality to this story given that in every family there’s a couple of rogues, babies born outside of wedlock, and folk that travelled to far-flung lands. Pendal is a charming and affable storyteller and the tale is constructed as smartly as his neatly clipped appearance. There are some nice contrasts to be enjoyed here too, with him having a buttoned-up religious upbringing before being crowned Mr Leather in 2003 (that was the last solo show’s story).
But the moment of friction that carries the tale forwards lies in his elderly father’s reluctance to accept Pendal’s marriage to a man. Old school, to say the least, his dad is a man who likes to leave newspaper clippings for people in odd places and is not used to being contradicted. A thoroughly enjoyable hour. (Marissa Burgess) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 27 Aug (not 13), 5.30pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10).
When you’ve been married for over 20 years, says Sindhu Vee, you don’t have arguments anymore. You have throwdowns. Her tips on staying happy involve destabilising her spouse in order to obtain more power and using lies strategically; it’s for the benefit of the couple in the long run, she insists. Raised in India, educated at Oxford and now married
to a Danish man, Vee (a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Comedy of the Week) comes across a bit like a Hindu Jo Caulfield, with plenty of bitchy and biting material about mothers-in-law, dull female pals and her own Mommie Dearest-style approach to parenting.
Although Sandhog covers a lot of similar ground to last year’s Iguana Mum – and seems to be pitched squarely at middle-aged couples in long- term relationships – Vee is careful to chuck in some sincere romance among the jaded rants about her husband’s hyper-rational personality, her fear of ‘new dick’, and expertly acted-out examples of the crushingly dull things they constantly fight about. Her impression of her long-distance phone calls to Delhi with her mum, a constant peddler of sensationalist fake news and giant superfan of any royal wedding, is a highlight. (Claire Sawers) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug, 4.30pm, £8–£10 (£7–£9).(£8.50–£9.50).
LOLLY JONES: FIFTY SHADES OF MAY Political satire with spot-on impressions ●●●●●
The titillating flyers for this show depict Lolly Jones in sexy black lingerie with Theresa May’s hair and demeanour. The show itself is a combination of audio clips of the Prime Minister and other political figures, to which Jones lip-syncs and dances, interspersed with pre-recorded footage of ‘Jacob Rees-Mogg’ issuing political diktats with sadomasochistic glee. The uncanniness with which Jones takes on the
attitudes of May, Margaret Thatcher and Nicola Sturgeon combined with her burlesque-style stripteases and other dance breaks is disconcerting: she really does capture the physicality of each one. The coordination of a dizzying number of sound cues, costume changes and choreography in this provocative political satire is astounding, but what is even more so is the way that Jones, by presenting May as a figure of constant scrutiny, manages to make her appear more vulnerable. Is the show a savage indictment of the way in which female politicians are judged more for their looks and clothing choices than their political records? Or is it a bit of saucy schoolboy entertainment for middle-aged men who get a thrill from thinking about the PM in her knickers? A bit of both. (Suzanne Black) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 27 Aug (not 14), 8.15pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).
FIN TAYLOR: WHEN HARASSY MET SALLY Contentious statements and caustic arguments delivered with a wink ●●●●●
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If you need someone to give a weighty and delicate subject a little prod, Fin Taylor is your man. It’s easy to imagine him being unable to walk past a hornets’ nest without giving it a welly, revelling in the chaos and irritation that ensues. In consistently acclaimed Fringe hours, he has pondered the state of racial privilege and last year he tore into lazy liberal values. For this year’s hour, he’s dipping an unsightly toe into the caustic waters of the modern gender wars, which have gone nuclear ever since the Harvey Weinstein revelations ushered in #MeToo and a raft of horrible stories and volley of accusations. From Taylor’s perspective in When Harassy Met Sally, there are clear shades and nuances to the behaviour of those men who have been outed as abusers, with Aziz Ansari’s ‘bad date’ tale one that should never have been equated with the serial assaults perpetrated by the Miramax monster. Perhaps more controversially, he shrugs a disdainful shoulder at the Louis CK scandal when he perceives a level of distorted chivalry at play in the comic’s actions.
Admitting from the top that there will be something to annoy someone in almost everything he will say during the hour, he sits down to make his most poisonous comments, because things never sound quite as bad when pronounced from a chair. His pause, glance and guilty giggle that arrives after opening up yet another wound might give away his true motives, and he generally will dole out his most contentious statements closely after siding with those who have been hurt at source.
The joy of a Fin Taylor show, whether you agree with even very much of what he’s saying on stage, is that his analyses and arguments are rarely hack, and come from a place of considered argument where the grey areas are king. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 15), 9.45pm, £8–£10 (£7–£9).
8–15 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 59