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Ruby's loss is audience gain Ruby Wax
Losing it
Lichfield Garrick ****
EXPECTING a night of belly laughs and stand-up? Think again.
This is Ruby Wax laid bare - up close and personal.
There is still the acerbic wit with the likes of Madonna and Angelina
Jolie (renting African children) among the targets, indeed the whole
cult of fame and celebrity come in for a panning.
The pursuit of fame,
the need to be famous just for the sake of being famous gets a hit as do
the wealthy who do nothing but be wealthy. The set who have lunch from
the back of the Rand Rover in the car park - at the school sports day. But
mostly this is about Ruby Wax and her manic depression. We now call it
bipolar disorder, she calls it losing it. Wax
was diagnosed 16 years ago when she had her third child, Marina, and has
had three stretches in The Priory but it took until last year before the
idea of a show about her illness germinated.
The
result is a show that starts with comedy and stand-up with the usual Wax
grenades lobbed into the foibles and failings of society but
slowly the evening drifts into the world of madness.
There are still plenty of laughs but they come like a glance through a
window in a darkened room as the audience are given a glimpse of what
the world of a manic depressive is like. The show has moved from comedy
club to theatre, from stand-up to monologue. It
is easy to forget that Wax is a classically trained actress or that she
has a degree in psychology. She also qualified as a psychotherapist a
couple of years ago. Put that all together with her losing it and you
have the elements of what is a powerful performance. With
the superb Wax is the brilliant Welsh singer-songwriter Judith Owen who
has had her own battles with depression. There are times when Wax
rambles manically about trivia almost drowned by song, there are
conversations with Owen singing and Wax talking. Then at times she puts
into song Wax's thoughts in what at times is a moving performance. Owen
is worth a look at on her own. She lives in California where she is
married to Harry Shearer, of Spinal Tap fame. She has been compared to
Joni Mitchell and I would throw Sarah McLachlan into the mix as well.
Lovely voice and an easy style for jazz and ballads.
Between them Wax and Owen produce a memorable evening. Plenty of laughs
but there is a price to be paid. No one escapes untouched. As Wax says
there is no manual to life, you have to learn it as you go along. She
produces Roger Clarke
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