ZOE LYONS: WEREWOLF

Zoe Lyons’ opening act is a comedian from Crawley, a fact that he weaves into his gentle set with charm. In fact charm is at the heart of his material. Self confessed lazy James Ellis reveals all his personal shortcomings in a quiet, self deprecating manner, that has the audience chuckling throughout. The core of his act is that we so readily recognise in ourselves the foibles that he reveals about himself, and his relationship with his long-suffering wife. It is the clever reversal of the classic and outdated “my wife” routine and it works.

Zoe has a wife too, and later in her set she talks about her, turning the gag back, but somehow making it work, although she does at one point admit to being herself a little misogynistic. This I like, she voices the fact that for some of us, we’re not quite there yet when it comes to accommodating contemporary attitudes to so many things, she admits that she has almost cancelled herself and I for one know that feeling.

But Zoe loves so much and she certainly loves her home here in Brighton and Hove, she tells us so, and much of her new show is about love, her loves and of course her hates. But despite the occasional bursts of anger, and there are a few, this is not an angry show. This is partly because the things make her cross are the things that make us cross too, the people that make us cross, the failings of our bodies as we age, the curse of urban fly tipping, greedy parking… the little things that niggle and niggle.

But the cross moments are certainly outweighed by the lovely things in her life, her dog Groucho Barks, recently departed at the grand old age of 18 is still bringing her obvious joy as she recounts the macho mutts attitude and fierce character.

Lyons’ act is not gag driven, it’s cleverly woven storytelling, like the very best comic fiction but  made up of what one can assume is reality. Whether the tales she tells are true or not is immaterial, what they are is uproariously funny and she has the audience in the palm of her hand from the very moment she strides out onto the stage. She is engaged, she makes eye contact, she dares you not to recognise in her the crazy in ourselves and in our ordinary day to day lives.

Along the way she covers so much that is personal, her stress, her physical decline, her relationships, her career, her attitude to celebrity… no one and no thing is safe from her razor sharp observational skills and wicked wit. And we love her for it.

This is an evening of delightful humour, thought provoking jibes, and belly laughs, some of which pertain to her belly, a story that not many of us would recount, even to a close friend.

What is so clever is that as a gay woman, she does not use her sexuality in an overtly political way. It is simply a matter of fact, she has a wife, that’s about it. The corduroy material, no pun intended, is simply funny, not barbed anger about being an oppressed minority, just a simple fact of life. Refreshing stuff for an audience with no doubt a high percentage of LGBTQ+ people and our allies. Dare I say that, had there been a major catastrophic event last night in Theatre Royal Brighton, we would have had to import fresh homosexuals from Amsterdam! Go on, cancel me if you dare!

Excellent, life affirming, quality comedy from the very brilliant Zoe Lyons!

(WARNING: Should you be lucky enough to be invited around to her home, avoid the facecloth!)

Andrew Kay

18 May

Theatre Royal Brighton

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