Megan Juniper takes us on a quick romp through a date gone wrong, intertwined with fun, catchy songs and important messages for the modern day woman
it may have been unintentional, but it did highlight how hard it can be for people to talk openly about vaginas
Standing centre stage in a fantastic skirt adorned with prints of sanitary pads, condoms and the female reproductive system, Megan sings the words “My Fanny… Valentine” and straight away the tone is set for this breezy rom-com cabaret of a supposed Tinder date gone wrong.
We join Megan on her date with comically named Gynaecologist Dr Van Gina - who has asked to meet at his surgery after hours. We get some insight into Megan’s thoughts through some nicely delivered lines, interspersed with odes to vaginas and a brilliant re-write of Alphabeat’s hit song Fascination changed to Contraception.
There’s no doubting that Juniper has a superb voice, made all the more clear in the cosy surroundings. She moves easily from Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You to a Madonna classic, putting her own twist on each one, and using them cleverly to further the story.
Megan was accompanied by pianist Robert Allen who piped in with some of the more crude names people call vaginas earning a few laughs from the audience. This was followed by Robert sharing ‘Fanny Facts’ after each musical interlude and, whilst interesting, could have been delivered with more conviction. It may have been unintentional, but it did highlight how hard it can be for people to talk openly about vaginas.
As Megan’s ‘date’ goes on, the format of the piece remained the same, and became somewhat repetitive. It flits between cabaret and theatre, and needed some clearer direction. It would have been nice to hear more from our protagonist and learn more about her relationship with Robert, as their infrequent banter made it hard to understand his role in the piece.
The cabaret ends with an audience sing-a-long to a cover of a Beatles song, which was abruptly interrupted with what seemed like a Public Service Announcement from Megan that would have been better delivered on accompanying material or via a recorded track.
Megan is a likeable character and holds the audience’s attention throughout whilst delivering some important thoughts on dating in the modern age - don’t drink and swipe!
