Showing @ Underbelly, Edinburgh until Mon 23 Aug @ 18:30
Having presented a work-in-progress last year, Susan Calman is back with a brand new polished offering. Calman’s shows are always extremely personal and Lady Like is no exception. Admittedly, there’s less of a central theme, compared to her 2012 battle cry for equal marriage, This Lady’s Not for Turning Either. Lady Like has no cause. Instead, we delve into the subject of mental health, life-long inadequacy and the struggle for personal acceptance. Terrible subject matter for a comedy show, you’d imagine. And you’d be utterly wrong.
Some anecdotes – ballet, girl guides, childhood beauty – might be run-of-the-mill in the mouth of a less skilled comedian. But Calman is superb in her timing, delivery and command of an audience. She knows exactly how to squeeze her upbringing for every last drop, drawing belly laughs from the most maudlin of situations.
She also makes a point of acknowledging her increased success, with lots of back-stage News Quiz tit-bits. An act as the outsider can founder once success becomes less elusive – but Calman is more than equal to this, delivering terrifying insights into TV production and what goes on in the heads of Dave‘s original programming department.
And the point of mental health is that it doesn’t matter how much you might be smiling on the outside – the black dog doesn’t make an exception for those with increased profiles. A touching and surprisingly physical ending – given how much Calman celebrates her own hatred of exercise – wraps things up gracefully; the icing on the hilarious and heart-rending cake.