FROM growing up gay in Glasgow in the 1980s and 90s to being the only woman on a building site to her impressions of modern men and women, Susie McCabe’s new show has it all.
Femme Fatality, as she explains herself, is all about “womanhood” and, more specifically, how McCabe feels about it all.
She kicks things off in the year of her birth – 1980 – the same year that Scotland finally decriminalised homosexuality.
From there, McCabe (below) takes the audience on an autobiographical tour of her childhood and teen years as she hones in on the idea of always feeling “different” and her fear of feeling like a “failure”.
Given the time period she’s talking about, it would be easy to assume some of the references would go over the head of some, but the comic does such a brilliant job of explaining it all that age doesn’t really matter.
It was clear from the raucous laughter every punchline was met with that every generation in the audience was enjoying themselves, which is testament to the material.
Even those not familiar with the programmes she mentions (Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit or a gay storyline in EastEnders as an example), her energy and impressions mean it almost doesn’t matter.
One highlight was the comic explaining how she was once asked to accompany a colleague on a building site to a Victoria’s Secret to pick up a present for his partner.
The show also served as a great example of how to do audience participation well, with McCabe engaging with the crowd brilliantly while never really relying on them entirely to make the show as good as it was.
It’s just another way she’s able to showcase her talent though as every front row will be different – on this occasion it was a 21-year-old named Lewis who found himself the butt of a few jokes.
Although it’s a personal story, McCabe rarely lets things get too emotional, with a punchline bursting through just as things seem like they might be getting a bit sentimental.
READ MORE: Kieran Hodgson Fringe review: New show is a brilliant success
Anyone who does a quick Google search of McCabe will find that she’s credited as being a support act to the likes of Kevin Bridges and Frankie Boyle.
If Femme Fatality is anything to go by though, she’ll rightly be keeping the stage all to herself going forward.
Susie McCabe is playing at the Assembly George Square Studios in Studio Two until August 27 - more information can be found HERE.
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