Gig review at the Soho Theatre

Harriet Kemsley is an awkwardly chaotic force on stage as she apparently is in life. Straight out of the traps, she’s into disarmingly frank stories about her mistakes.

Although she owns her failings, they took on a greater significance when she became pregnant, prompting her to consider what sort of mother she might be, given the car-crash moments of her own life.

Equally pressing is what sort of world eight-month-old Mabel will grow up in. A place where no woman feels safe walking home at night and placed under tremendous pressures from the beauty industry, and society at large, to feel insecure about her looks. This is the core of Honeysuckle Island, although Kemsley’s material is never quite crisp enough to stick too closely to any thesis or manifesto.

Her endearing ditzy stream-of-consciousness delivery is both her charm and her downfall. Honeysuckle Island needs an imperative to drive her disparate thoughts and stories forward – but instead uses a clunky structure whose artifice is at odds with Kemsley’s authenticity as a performer.

The chosen device is a hamper full of childhood mementoes that she recently discovered, which takes pride of place on stage, although it’s a while until she gets around to mentioning it. Then she recalls various items she found in it, each triggering an anecdote.

Among this trove was a map of Honeysuckle Island, a fictional place Kemsley created as an 11-year-old. Yet within this utopia of ziplines and monkeys was a ‘cellulite machine’ – not something any pre-teen should be concerned about. 

This feeds into routines about Kardashian-inspired plastic surgery and laser hair removal, the latter being slightly schizophrenic, asking why this should be necessary but also requiring a grossed-out reaction from the audience to what she’s tackling.

Although she’s endearingly honest – cheery and casual even when describing the deepest personal embarrassment or most dystopian reality – sometimes the lack of filter tips into leaving the audience in a stunned silence

However, when she alights on a joke it’s usually a doozy, even if there aren’t quite enough of them. Instead, the hour is based on the situational comedy of anything from pregnancy abstinence to reading a babysitter’s terrifyingly unreassuring texts. And all wrapped up with a corny bit of ‘mum dancing’ to the Vengaboys’ finest, bringing to a close a fun, if inconsistent, hour that wears its messaging lightly.

• Harriet Kemsley: Honeysuckle Island is at Soho Theatre until Saturday, then on tour around the UK until December 10. Harriet Kemsley tour dates.

Review date: 14 Sep 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Soho Theatre