Tiff Stevenson opens her show, Bombshell by telling us she is not just a ten, she is on Tinder just for the ego boost, but what she is really telling us is that we each should value ourselves and demand our place in the sun: “When I put on make-up, I start as a seven and come out as a ten.”
A lot of the content in this funny, and hugely meaningful show is about the subtle ways women are devalued. They need to recognize the hidden messages men give. “I don’t know what the rules are anymore,” Stevenson says. “You can compliment a women and she owes you nothing.”
But she cautions the innocent and the trusting: “It all depends on how you respond to this incredibly loaded compliment.”
This is a show about what we should all care about and how important it is to believe in the value of being human. Stevenson talks about how 2017 has been even worse than 2016 and reminds us that when we read the news, the reporters often ignore the suffering of disaster victims in their zeal to get “the story.” Kensington and Chelsea have the highest disparity between rich and poor and yet the Grenfell Tower tragedy was the result of their council ignoring the safety of residents in public housing just to save money. Stevenson asks: “Why are poor people treated as less than human?”
Bombshell is filled with laughs but underneath its ridicule and satire is real anger at the immense injustice that is accelerating in our world, not just to women but to all the disenfranchised, from political statements that mean nothing to women who interfere with other women’s reproductive rights. We are sold a life style that makes no social sense because it enhances those in power and diminishes the rest of us. “Look at the way women are sold products,” she says. “There is no nut wash for men,” and then she asks “How can we move on and accept us all as people?”
Everyone should see this show and then go home and think about how much our own behaviour allows injustice, poverty, despair to happen. It isn’t enough to be outraged. We have to change our own fundamental attitudes if we are all to be truly equal.
This is an important piece of work, beautifully written and performed with energy, humour and anger. It is a must see star of the 2017 fringe.
★★★★★
Tiff Stevenson: Bombshell is at The Gilded Balloon Teviot at 17:30 until 21st August. For tickets and more information click here!
