Writer: Felix O’Connor
Director: Ellen Corby
Just how is stand-up comedy supposed to be reviewed? Does it make you laugh? Do you get the references? Does it teach you, does it make you feel? In the case of Felix O’Connor’s Bad Girl, I can answer yes to at least three of these, and so while I have no idea what the 1991 animated film Rock-a-Doodle is, and nor have I seen The Princess Bride, I had a wonderful time, laughing along at his heartfelt, deeply personal, rumination on his existence as a queer trans man, and the youth spent coming to terms with these facts.
O’Connor is humble and charming in his delivery, if not occasionally a little nervous, which is perhaps to be expected when the topic is so personal. He is at ease when dealing with the audience, though, telling us that this is a show intended for people who have at one stage in their lives been 14 – and then promptly, and conspiratorially, promising to start the real show, now that it’s just us, 15 and over, that are there. This is typical of his delivery as he discusses the horror of his early adolescence; it’s relatable, genuine, and silly at the same time.
This early foregrounding of an adolescent hyperfixation on age is a great key into the rest of the show; there are video clips and photos of O’Connor as a child projected onto the wall, and his cacophony of ‘90s kids cultural references, from Recess to James and the Giant Peach, means that he can easily take an audience with him as he discourses on the queer signifiers in them.
What stands about O’Connor’s writing and performance, in a way that is almost jarring in how smoothly it is executed, is his ability to move from the frivolous to the serious within only a few breaths. He refuses to allow either the comedic or the tragic lie too long in the shade at the expense of the other, and so the show is always grounded in the reality of his, and our, experiences, as well as the humour he extracts from them.
At times O’Connor’s delivery can feel canned, as if from a Saturday Night Live sketch, which is a shame; he’s funny and insightful enough in his own voice to hold an audience. There is also a slight issue with the structure; the maudlin closing of a recording of an adolescent O’Connor playing guitar while he sings live is impressive, but such a funny show deserved a killer pay-off. This shouldn’t detract, though, from a touching, amusing, and achingly real show.
Runs Until 21st September 2024.
The Review's Hub Score
Hilarious, honest
Saw this last Thursday.
I found it funny, touching, and moving.
I didn’t get all of the 90’s references, I was allegedly a grown up in my 30s then, but I got enough.
I hope that Felix gets to tour this, as more people outside of the Dublin bubble need to see it.