It’s been a significant 12 months for Priya Hall. She split up with her boyfriend of six years and left her stable NHS admin job, and then started going out with a “tiny lesbian girlfriend” and doing work that actually fed her creatively. It’s almost as if she was starring in a Hollywood independent film that had relocated to Wales. Nope – also nabbed a role in a Welsh-speaking musical. By accident.
Hall’s eye for an interesting tale is enjoyable, and she has quite a few interesting tales. Her biracial family background and uber-Valleys granny offer no shortage, but the focus for the main bulk of the show is the journey she and her tiny lesbian girlfriend embark upon when they decide to become parents. It’s a story not shared by many before, and Hall tells it with an eye for the ridiculous, whilst not overlooking the difficulty and expense the whole process involves.
It’s a reliable and engaging debut hour from Hall, her delivery a safe pair of hands and her writing confident with a few good zingers peppering the truths of her history. The square-peg queerness to the round-holes of the NHS set-up for IVF treatment feels particularly fresh. And Hall’s perspective of what ‘family’ can constitute as both a clan you’re born into and one that you choose, is particularly nicely demonstrated as she draws from for her radiating warmth and humour.
Monkey Barrel Comedy – Monkey Barrel 2
16:40, 4-27 August 2023 (except 11th)
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/priya-hall-grandmother-s-daughter
