Writer: Juliet Cowan
Juliet Cowan ventures into stand-up with her brilliantly titled new show F*ck Off and Leave Me Alone performing for two nights at the Bush Theatre. Particularly drawing on parallels with her teenage self, Cowan’s observations on being a middle-aged woman are scathingly funny, mocking herself more than anyone or anything else, and using her one hour show to celebrate the liberation of menopause and the freedom from at least some of the ingrained patriarchal notions we all carry with us.
In fact, patriarchy is the main recipient of Cowan’s provocative title, represented here by a fantasy franchise action figure suspended from a string who frequently interrupts the performance to remind her of the rules she is breaking and to go a bit easier on the system that shapes all of us – she doesn’t. From Adam’s first wife Lilith who is the basis of a comic story about freedom even if she has to live as a baby-eating monster, to noting the patriarchy itself if “like a tapeworm, you don’t know you’ve got it,” Cowan’s sparky set is full of smart and sassy content.
One of the best sections comes early in the show as, reflecting on the nuclear warnings of her teenage years, Cowen recalls the worry of dying without having sex and then going to virgin heaven populated only by “Anne Widdecombe and babies.” Cowen acts out her alternative disaster plan to great comic effect as she perfectly captures the irrational and disproportionate anxieties of youth.
Sex features quite a lot, whether it be a slightly undercooked section on fantasy figures calling on her in her teenage years and now, reflecting on her body image, as well as a throw-away comment about leaving her husband and running around “like a wonky Roman Emperor.” It is a fantastic image but perhaps the focus could be less on the path to menopause and a little more on the comic opportunities of sex as an older woman, starting afresh with someone new after having children, and all the embarrassment potential that causes.
Cowan has magnificent stage presence, warm and open, meaning she soon has the audience eating out of her hand with a notable talent for lacerating one-liners that make for satisfying punchlines or asides, even if the route to them is a little convoluted. But Cowan’s very natural stage persona covers up a few sins in the haphazard material that jumps between topics with too little connection, particularly later in the show as the threads come loose, moving between stories about her parents, discovering she no longer cares about pleasing people and a bitter panto story that the audience really needed to hear more about.
But this routine will only grow and kudos to Cowan for standing on a stage and giving voice to the one thing we all really want to say every day of our lives – F*ck off and leave me alone!
Runs until 12 November 2022
