You will have absolutely no idea how to feel about this show upon entering, but you’ll know – having read this review – it’s a solid four star performance, and you should persevere with it. This show is a once in the lifetime.
Lady Grew, the evening’s hostess, is one of the most inspiring women you will meet this Festival, absolutely the ‘post-feminist wet dream’ she is advertised as. In fact, I’m on her website right now reading her lyrics and am currently being inspired as a writer, woman and, weirdly, just as a breathing person. That’s an impressive amount of inspiration. Lady Grew’s lyrics and script are a mix of solidly crafted, beautiful poetry and hardcore slam style rap. Everything is written herself; she’s not just a pretty face.
The other high point in this show was her pole dancing. She’s clearly trained hard for years, barely showing any effort at some absolutely incredible moves. It takes amazing strength to master even the simplest of moves, and Lady Grew completely blew my expectations away. She pulled off some complex routines yet managed to keep her energy up throughout the hour long performance – a normal person would be struggling to stand after the first 15 minutes. Her energy and raw sexuality (I cringed a little writing that, but there is really no other way to say it) left the audience in a trance of incredulity.
Brutally inspirational poetry and mesmerising pole dancing were not the only things to stun the audience, though. She stayed in character throughout – which was a feat in itself, her character was a crazy mix of psychotic energy and wild humanity. She was hypnotic to watch, and that’s not even including her singing, which was raw and powerful; the perfect sound for her ruthless lyrics.
Lady Grew is an inspiration to cabaret. Although her show is confusing to the senses, she is exactly what I needed to see this Fringe; a beautiful woman doing what she loves doing, and having no hesitations about it, regardless of any judgement or criticism she may face.
