Fiona Paul wants to take us to ‘Pleasure Level 10’; starting with handing out Jaffa Cakes on the door, she very nearly succeeds. Her show is a fun jumble of stand-up, theatre, and cabaret. The true strength of the show lies in its theatrical backbone, which sees Paul tour through a series of different personalities with different accents, talking to imaginary characters offstage. She has a brilliant grasp on her characters and their personality quirks, reminding us of all the irritating characteristics we put up with in people because we are trying to please them.
Paul’s lineup is reminiscent of a TV sketch show: a pushy drama teacher; a food judge at the WI fair; a posh self-help author who doesn’t have time to be sad. Her wardrobe is all on stage to enable her to slide between personalities with ease. She makes use realise how much pressure we put ourselves under to please people like this, how much pressure teachers put on kids, the pressures on performers and young women desperate for celebrity. In trying to please us, Paul alerts us to the fact that trying to please everybody can only lead to ‘depression, angst, low self-esteem’ – all things that, according to the self-help author, don’t exist. Our laughs are self-conscious as we recognise ourselves and the people around us in the characters she portrays. This is encouraged by Paul’s skilful retention of a sense of herself in all of the characters, and by her appearances on stage as herself.
Perhaps proof that she pleased her audience is that the audience was so keen to please her in return. We followed her instructions to blow bubbles, throw confetti, sing along. Even those who had been bewildered by the admittedly confusing beginning to her show were beaming by the end.
