Review: JOSH SHARP: TA-DA!, Soho Theatre

Photo credit: Emilio Madrid

ta-da! establishes itself early as ‘not stand-up’: it’s theatre. Josh Sharp has written and rehearsed it meticulously, and he has the 2000-slide powerpoint to prove it. It is a crafted and deeply personal 75-minute ramble about facing up to the facts of life. It is an exposé packaged in a presentation and with enough jokes landing to keep the audience on his side throughout.

Minimal lighting and sound accompany Josh as he talks the audience through his coming out, his mother’s passing, his near-death experience. Linking it all together is the palpable narrative of needing to be on stage, needing to be seen and heard, needing to make people laugh, and he delivers on the latter on press night with a flexible yet insistent stage presence that renders the show both intriguing and familiar.

ta-da! was a hit in New York, extended Off-Broadway several times, but Sharp adapts its content for a British crowd as best he can without having to cut some of his most confident and funny material. Generally, the topics he tackles cross the Atlantic culture gap, and the added visual element of the writing appearing behind him at talking pace makes it easier to hit the punchline and then move swiftly on.

Sharp’s stage presence is assertive without being arrogant, verifying his stories about being a child musician. The audience gets the sense that he wants desperately to be listened to and laughed with, and it’s endearing instead of arrogant. He’s the right balance of vulnerable and exhibitionist, hammering home that the audience shouldn’t believe it when a magician says he’s made a mistake, and the final punchline is an initially-shaky but ultimately satisfying resolution for all of the show’s themes.

As it is just Sharp talking, occasionally the pace can drop slightly, and perhaps its tempo could benefit from some slight trimming to bring it down to an hour, however overall, ta-da! is a unique, meaningful and funny piece of theatre that will appeal to a wide audience of London theatregoers.

Quick, quirky and wonderfully Queer.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Oli Burgin

ta-da! plays at London’s Soho Theatre until 28 Feb, with further info here.