Molly Brenner’s one-woman show about her pursuit of an orgasm is an endearingly-performed trundle through her long search for sexual fulfilment. And yes, this is every bit as niche as it sounds. It is, however, nowhere near as potentially cringe-making as it sounds, thanks to a searingly-honest script and a lightness-of-delivery-touch which ensure no awkward audience winces for those who’ve wandered in mistakenly thinking I’m Coming is about someone perennially late for engagements.
An outrageous, beautifully-judged, comedy confessional.
Brenner is an accomplished and sincere performer and her lack of sensationalism ensures that the intimate subject material never feels unduly salacious or discomfiting. At times, it is even rather moving as she describes how her medical condition and emotional blocks denied her one of the most basic physical releases. That’s not to say it isn’t funny: there are gags aplenty, and each of them all the funnier for being delivered in the wide-eyed, conspiratorial manner of your normally quiet friend disclosing over a gin and tonic. But that, in turn, isn't to say that it's coy. It's not. It's confessional and outrageous, but always beautifully-judged.
For this is the stuff we never talk about. From our teenaged years boasting (see also: lying) about our sexual exploits through to the manipulation of social media to keep up the pretence that we’re living our best lives, we are all past masters at accentuating the positives and eliminating the negatives to the extent that we sometimes forget the importance of being truthful.
And Brenner is certainly that. She spares few details in her quest, but they are tastefully and amusingly recounted. She involves the audience but doesn’t humiliate them. She even managed to ignore the heckler in the front row who had failed to grasp the concept of rhetorical questions.
See it with your mates. See it with your Mum. See it with your significant other. But most of all, see it for yourself. The nub may be a minority issue, but the wider message of self-acceptance is one for the ages.
