Review: SAM NICORESTI - BABY DOOMER, Soho Theatre
September is a fantastic time for comedy in London, when the brave Edinburgh veterans return to the capital for their victory lap of the Soho Theatre. Hot off the back of an Edinburgh Comedy Award win for Best Show, Sam Nicoresti brings her acclaimed Baby Doomer to London audiences.
The central thread of Nicoresti’s tight one-hour show is the hunt for the perfect skirt suit, and how that particular sartorial phenomenon represents an existential miracle, treading the line between feminine and masculine in a perfect metaphor for transness.
Nicoresti’s comedy touches on a broad range of topics, not least her experience of transition and learning how to be a woman. She performs with energy, flair and self-assuredness and one can’t help but feel, in a audience audibly packed with other autistic queers, that Nicoresti feeds off that familial energy. Her palpable excitement only builds throughout the piece to its gorgeous climax.
Sam Nicoresti is sharp as a whip, rattling off queer theory and philosophical concepts, before undercutting herself with charming self-deprecation in the next breath. She balances an indulgence in witchcraft and spiritualism with a blunt groundedness that affectionately pokes fun at the modern queer experience in a way that will have East London lesbians in the audience wondering, “is this f*cking play about us?”
Nicoresti is an adept observational comedian and an engaging storyteller – her comedy blends familiar stand-up beats with a unique poetic lyricism.
An outstanding hour of comedy from an exciting and unforgettable talent.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Livvy Perrett
