One Woman’s Triumph of Theatre
Max Falkenberg heads down to the Tricycle Theatre to check out Happy Birthday Without You
Smart, sexy and absurd. One woman shows do not get any better than this. For an hour of complete hilarity, Violet Fox recounts her struggles to be an ever more extraordinary artist for her exceptionally ordinary audience.
Written and performed by the unbelievably talented Sonia Jalaly, The Story of Violet Fox explores the frayed relationship with her mother through songs, impersonation and satire.
A series of crazy, imaginative skits, Violet Fox’s charming physicality makes you want to laugh and cry from start to finish.
If everyone had the commitment, passion and stage presence of Jalaly, I’m convinced I would never see another bad performance in my life. Jalaly’s ability to impersonate almost anyone to perfection and sing with such variation and breadth is unreal. Okay, maybe not anyone, just some of the most famous theatrical female stars in Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews etc. With every impression, her performance just gets better and better. I never thought I would say this, but this show made me warm and fuzzy inside. What more could I possibly want? With an eye for even the most subtle cultural observations, a mixture of audience interaction and direct participation give the show an energy so difficult to achieve in one-man shows.
Her charming physicality makes you want to laugh and cry from start to finish.
Like every comedy performance, even the smallest details have a major effect on how the audience responds. Generally, Jalaly has this down to a T, her actions are so careful and so well thought out that the majority of the time her performance blends perfectly with the story she is telling. Very occasionally, either the pacing or the continuation of the story is somewhat lacking. However, for a young, unknown actor, she has exceeded expectations so much that any criticism really comes as an afterthought.
Yes, the ending maybe drags on for thirty seconds too long; yes, maybe the occasional scene is just too absurd; but any realistic assessment of the show can only find these issues trivial.
The funniest and most carefully thought out show I have seen this year.
With fantastically hilarious scenes in broken French and mad games of musical chairs, this show is definitely the funniest and most carefully thought out that I have seen this year. That said, I only got to see this show after Jalaly had been performing it for almost a year. In that sort of time, as is the case with every comedy performance, sketches can be cut and new material added to tweak a show into its perfect state.
Does this diminish her achievement? Of course not, but other performers should definitely learn from her.
