If you’re after a show with particularly colourful spins on moral conundrums, a history of gifting large items of furniture to unsuspecting friends, and a deeply personal account of being a transgender woman, then Alex Franklin’s latest show ticks all your boxes in pink marker pen. ‘Gurl Code‘ is an uplifting, moving and incredibly funny hour of comedy that feels like the unfiltered lovechild of its creator, reflecting and encouraging all the parts of her personality that let her shine on the stage. 

‘Gurl Code’ is a suitable title. Much of the show sees Franklin reflect on her past ideas of what men and women are, how they act, and how other people have told her they should act. This is not the whole story though. After warming up the crowd with a cheeky musical number, Franklin launches herself fully into a show formed of ingredients from so many elements of her life. It builds to an incredibly moving finale that feels like the perfect send-off; a touching conversation that ends with a callback you see coming from a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any less satisfying. 

Franklin lets her various quirks and passions come flooding out, with a love of raccoons in particular featuring very heavily. The jokes and gags come flowing one after the other in quick succession, linking up beautifully despite such a dramatic range in subject matter. Her own extended version of the trolley problem is relentlessly funny, while a thought experiment about the colour pink leads into a commentary that is uplifting and touching in equal measure. Franklin’s ability to pivot from the silly to the sincere, while never letting up with the pace of the show, is a wonder to experience.

‘Gurl Code’ is an hour of comedy that feels like it has something significant to say in the world today, a world still cursed by blind bigotry and misunderstanding. Franklin has no interest in being a spokesperson for a whole group of people – she is only ever speaking for and about herself. And that is all she needs to do in order to deliver a show of the highest calibre. 

‘Gurl Code‘ has finished its run