We saw Tessa Coates debut show Primates at the Soho Theatre this weekend after a successful run at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Tessa is one-third of 2014 Funny Women Awards finalists sketch group Massive Dad and brings us a show where she uses her degree in Anthropology to tell us stories about her life with a scientific explanation as the undertone.
Romantic relationships, Harry Potter and…monkeys. All that you could ask from a comedy show!
Tessa comes through as a delightful ingenue for whom even just saying the word penis comes with huge amounts of embarrassment, but reveals herself to be outspoken and candid about every detail of her romantic life – or that which she chose to share as part of the show.
To protect her own values, Tessa swaps to other, bolder and unashamed characters, to help tell her story, and she does this very well. She had the audience with her from the start, reacting with laughter, as well as cringe, at all the appropriate moments. She wasn’t afraid of a little audience interaction either and didn’t let that derail her from her skilfully crafted script.
Tessa has more shows coming up in June as well as work in progress previews. You can keep up to date on her website here.
