It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about Alex Franklin’s Gurl Code, but this show is an example of really great comedy, constantly shifting from one gag to another, as Franklin mixes, matches and weaves these stylistically and emotionally intricate gags.
An enigmatic performer
This is a very high-energy set that zigs and zags in every direction; if we think we know where Franklin is going, she throws us off and goes in another direction entirely. The material just keeps building and building, as she creates this kind of layered sense of arbitrary nonsense to the point where what she's saying is both extremely profound and/or the most off-the-cuff quip ever.
We’re always on-edge and just waiting to see what she does next. She constantly keeps us on our toes with each new gag, that really the chaos and hysteria that unfolds is just bursting out the seams, making us think it’s one thing when it’s actually the other. It’s a multi-layered bonanza of comedy. This is partly due to the hyperactive nature of her performance, but it's also the material and how all the disparate parts of the show come together. Franklin uses rather innocuous and - to our initial perception - random topics that we get caught up in, to pepper in these huge metaphors and messages of subjectivity, identity and perception, before bringing everything back together in a really touching whole. The versatility in her ability to use all these different styles of comedy to create these ingenious gags is truly amazing.
A great strength that Franklin has as a performer is that she is incredibly connected to the audience, always engaging and making us feel really invested in the show. She knows how to create these really deep, poignant moments and diffuse them in a way in which that feeling still stays with us even though we’re laughing at something else.
Gurl Code is just such a wonderful performance by Franklin. It’s touching, it’s comically funny and Franklin is just such an enigmatic performer that she gets us to laugh along with her as she makes her way through the set. In this way, she completely controls our reactions, and it is a spell that we’re all too happy to be under.
