At this year's Funny Women Awards Alex Maher's 'Hope & Gloria' won Best Show after a successful stint in Edinburgh. The one woman show charts the relationship of mother and daughter, Hope and Gloria, through the eyes of daughter Dr Hope, hospital radio agony aunt.
I saw the sell out show at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden and I couldn't help but notice in the small venue that a certain member of the audience was causing a stir. Nothing screams ringing comedy endorsement like Rowan Atkinson coming to see you. It is testament to how entertaining Dr Hope was that I only spent the very beginning of the show monitoring Rowan's laughter/staring at the back of his head.
Dr Hope likes her audience to be relaxed and shared some excellent techniques on squeezing and then (safely) releasing the sphinchter, I couldn't tell from the back of his head whether or not Rowan partook in this exercise. Only then could we really delve into our issues, assisted by Dr Hope's quickfire question and answer round.
Yes, this is a show based on very precise, though not entirely scientific (Dr Hope prefers to work with pure intuition, I N T U I T I O N) psychology but don't think this show isn't without its racy moments, an impressive trick involving Dr Hope's knickers had all the straight men in the audience enthralled.
Considering the show is about a mother and daughter the soundtrack is pure Dad Rock with Queen's 'I Want to Break Free' and Fleetwood Mac's 'Oh Well Part 1' setting the scene. Sound and sound effects make up an important part of the show – Dr Hope strikes a great balance in audience participation, it isn't often you can make an entire room of adults baa like sheep.
So if you're looking for a way to combine solving your relationship issues with entertainment then 'Hope & Gloria' is the show for you.
Warning: This show is not for those with egg allergies.
Kate Stone
