on monday after work, bex and i headed to islington for a preview of what was billed as suzanna gonzo's (most recently of musical bingo hostess fame) critically acclaimed yet totally absurdist character comedy show 'dark lady'. warned of elements of storytelling, clowning, tragedy, singing and healing (ok, what?), but not really sure what to expect, we marched ourselves over to the hen and chicken's theatre just on the roundabout by the station, for the 7:30 show time.
there, we were met by a small crowd. when i say 'small', i mean.. there were maybe ten of us in the room. i know previews are not always big deals, and it's more about working through material to see what works and what doesn't, but... i was worried that i'd dragged bex away from the couch for what could quite possibly be a giiiiant waste of our time. we took our seats, and settled in, never ~really sure, that we wanted to stay.
within minutes, we were cringing at an unnecessarily crude joke. moments later, laughing uncontrollably at a nonsensical one liner response from the dark lady herself. this sort of bipolar response to the show continued for the full hour, and by the end we still weren't totally sure what we'd sat through, but were bloody glad we did. i'd not laughed that hard in a ~long time!
the whole act is centred around suz as a fallen cruise ship entertainer (the back story was a little diluted with a ~lot of other anecdotes and tangents, so this was a little hazy to me), with a murderous streak, whose passion for singing for redemption, and turning back time ("but ya can't") has her taking the audience on a journey of spiritulism, sexualism, and a lot of singing.
so, if you're ready to heal and reveal, or reveal and heal, or just simply "sing it out", then you probably won't regret seeing this show, the same way i don't regret seeing this show.
you can find the summer tour dates here! thanks for having us, suz!
