Jenny Eclair @ Citizens Theatre, 18 March

Review by Ben Venables | 21 Mar 2016

The matters of the 'thigh gap' and tampon tax have been expertly dismantled by comedians in the last year or so. In How to be a Middle Aged Woman (Without Going Insane), Jenny Eclair offers additional perspective.

It's said that the tampon tax has allowed comedians to 'reclaim the period joke'. A person disappointed by this turn of events, and who thinks menstruation should be off-limits at a comedy gig, could technically be reassured their sensitive ears would hear of no such thing in Jenny Eclair's new show.

Instead, this is all rather more full-bodied, where the apparent defect of lacking a thigh gap, for instance, is only a top part of the problem. This show centres on the post-tampon era of the perimenopause and Eclair represents her stage of life like an island with its own micro-climates of fluctuating temperatures, with a view across the sea to the land of dementia. It's a show about facing these changes with an arsenal of talcum powder, some mismatched underwear and a knitted dachshund at the ready.

Despite being known now for TV appearances, as a 'grumpy old woman', or for her novels, Eclair reminds us that she started out as a punk-poet. But with this exhilarating and characteristically unabashed performance no-one would doubt it. 

Eclair has her spot in the comedy pantheon, being the first female stand-up to pick up the main Edinburgh comedy award in 1995. How to be a Middle Aged Woman (Without Going Insane) leaves us feeling stand-up is Eclair's natural habitat. And, despite her place in comedy history, it's a show of the here and now.


Details of Jenny Eclair's tour can be found at jennyeclair.co.uk