Monday 24 September 2018

REVIEW: Rachel Parris: It's Fun To Pretend - The Lowry Theatre, Salford.



Comedienne, actress, improviser and songwriter Rachel Parris has had her critics in the past; namely her own mother, who Rachel claims once told her “You do too many things. You need to choose and not try to do everything because you’ll never excel at one thing.” Other critics tend to disagree, Rachel has won What’s On London’s ‘Best Musical Comedy Show’, The Telegraph’s ‘Best Jokes on the Fringe’ and has been shortlisted for The Guardian’s Pick of the Fringe, as well as Funny Women’s ‘Best Fringe Show’ in 2016. She is one of the founders of the hit Edinburgh, and now touring improv show ‘Austentatious’ and the break out star from BBC1’s The Daily Mash.

If you still don’t know who she is, she’s the blonde anchor woman on your social media newsfeed whose ditzy and unflappably cheerful persona is in stark contrast to razor sharp material about such things as “How not to sexually harass someone” or “Piers Morgan: The difference between a journalist and a sycophant”.

Rachel’s solo show, ‘It’s Fun To Pretend’ promises “a comedy show packed with stand-up, song, sketch, and inevitably a sideways swipe at society” and finds Rachel in fine form. She is a warm and welcoming host and engages the audience throughout the evening with her chosen theme of ‘imposter syndrome’ by getting cheers for whichever subject she’s covering: “Who’s single?”, “Who is in love?”, “Are any of you teachers” etc? All standard stuff, but she never lets up her conversational approach with us, which really keeps everyone on-side. Rachel’s stand-up material is somewhat lacking the current affairs bent of her recent TV appearances, but the dry wit and condescending tone is ever-present, so it would be fair to say that although the subject matter may be different, the delivery is exactly what we wanted.

The show started on time at 8pm, but just as the audience were settling in to her sharp and consistently funny stand-up, interspersed with two songs, we were granted an interval. Obviously, an interval should not usually warrant a comment, but at only 20 minutes into the show there was a justified moment of disbelief amongst us when the house lights came on. At 8:41pm, when the interval had officially lasted longer than the first half, I had to check the ticket price. I need not have worried because at £12 per ticket and with a second half running time of 55 minutes, of equally high-quality material we had got more than our money’s worth.

I have to take Ms Parris’s programme blurb to task because there was thankfully no sign of any “sketches”, instead the equal measure of stand-up and songs were all we needed to be kept entertained. Her stand-up subjects ranged from teaching piano (a funny routine made hilarious as her true metaphor is revealed), her sexual experiences and listing qualities that make one a feminist.

It is, however in her songs that Rachel Parris’s act really takes off and I can’t believe that I’m saying this. Anyone who has ever listened to The Now Show or been to a comedy club regularly will know that comedy songs need only to complete a rhyming couplet to illicit a hollow laugh, rather than contain any jokes. But this was not the case tonight. Her songs were invariably funny and with a degree in Music from Oxford University, they demonstrated musicianship of the highest order. If I were to be so lazy as to draw comparisons with the great Victoria Wood, Rachel Parris would certainly live up to them. But I won’t.

Songs ranged in both genre and subjects, but all were expertly pitched; ranging from an inspirational speech as a 90s piano ballad, to a feminist Rhianna song which aimed to re-write the rules on female objectification. The real highlight was a song about travelling on a train, which was preceded by a set-up so funny that the song had to be brilliant to emerge from under its shadow… and it was.

As the show ended on a brilliant parody of an X-Factor finalist’s song, which showcased Parris’s wonderful singing voice, astute composition and comedic expertise, I was reminded of the advice the comedienne was once given by her parent. I would respectfully disagree with her mother’s assessment that she has chosen “to do too much”. Rachel Parris excels at the art of stand-up comedy and comedy song-writing, proving that she is a master of both.

Reviewer - Ben Hassouna-Smith
on - 23/9/18

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