Theatre
Review: Bridget Everett ‘is a fearless performer’ at Soho Theatre
Having only known Bridget Everett for her amazing performance alongside Maria Bamford as straight talking friend in the critically acclaimed Netflix series Lady Dynamite, I really had no idea about her cabaret background or her comedy background for that matter, so I didn’t really have any idea of what to expect on this hot summer’s evening in Soho Theatre. Well, I was blown away.
The moment she walks on stage and flashes her breasts, it’s obvious this ain’t no regular cabaret night. Bridget Everett is a self-styled and self-proclaimed alt cabaret wildebeest with a voice that deserves to be on any West End stage. She immediately has the crowd cheering feverishly as she sets the bar high with her fist pumping rabble-rousing smash hit F*** S*** Up! Tenacious D look like the beach boys in comparison. Originally from Kansas, she apologises for her mother not being there, but had she been there she would have offered three things to live by: live large, love life, and Barry f****** Manilow.
Bridget is a fearless performer who uses her body, her voice and her sexual confidence to both entice and terrify the audience packed into this room on a sweltering summer’s night. Innuendo-laden lyrics tell tales of teenage sexual encounters and lust, all packaged together with a bawdy wit that only someone with Bridget’s natural charisma could pull off without it seeming crass and in bad taste.
Photo: Kevin Yatarola
Britain certainly has come a long way since the dower stand-up of the seventies, but it still lags way, way behind when it comes to adventurous, challenging, liberated forms of comedy. Maybe it is out there and I just haven’t seen it yet, but you could certainly see that some of the audience members, fans or not, weren’t expecting the show they got and their poor faces looked terrified when Bridget wandered off stage and into the crowd for the electro inspired song Titties, a song about her Mother’s straight-talking take on adolescence. I can’t imagine why. She only thrust her crotch and breasts into the faces of young men who looked like they were in heaven and hell at the same time. I myself pathetically kept trying to make eye contact so I could get up close and personal, but it wasn’t meant to be. Oh well, she’s at the Soho Theatre until the 30 July so there’s plenty of time left!
This show is balls to wall comedy and kick ass tunes from Bridgets album Pound It. Maybe play it when the children are out. Or not, depends on how rock and roll you are. One thing’s for sure though, Bridget is. And I’ll be back to see her before this run ends and you’d be a fool not to.
Get remaining tickets for Bridget Everett at Soho Theatre before it’s too late.
