It takes a significant life event to drive someone into the service of a spiritual leader, particularly one who may or may not be called Dave. For Harriet, this event comes in the form of her divorce.
It must be bad, to drive someone to gurus and daily affirmations but Harriet manages to spin it into a very serviceable hour of comedy. The show’s title, ‘Everything Always Works Out For Me’ is her new mantra she tells herself each day and it’s a good one. Unfortunately for me, although her hour definitely did ‘work out’ i.e. she doesn’t die on stage and there are no awkward pauses or technical issues, for me the show doesn’t amount to too much more than that.
There really is nothing wrong with the show. Her anecdotes on an unflattering appearance in a tell-all book are interesting, and her jabs at now ex-husband hit their mark. However, beyond that nothing stands out as being a highlight of the show or a reason I’d recommend it particularly to a friend.
She’s obviously very well established, that much is at least clear by her subtle namedrops throughout the show, but her delivery wasn’t quite to my taste. She has a slightly crazed energy, and a very typically millennial awkwardness to her cadence. She self identifies as ‘clumsy and thick’ which unfortunately is slightly relatable to the more awkward moments of my life, but isn’t backed up with enough strong punchlines to hit you over the head with funny.
Harriet Kemsley: Everything Always Works Out For Me, 18.10, Monkey Barrel, until August 25
Tickets are available at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/harriet-kemsley-everything-always-works-out-for-me.
Latharna Imlah