Emma Sidi @ Pleasance Courtyard
Satirical without being satire: Emma Sidi's take on Sue Gray is a breath of fresh air
Who is Sue Gray really? No-one knows. In this new show, character comedian Emma Sidi projects her own absurd conjecture onto the blank surface of Gray's famously enigmatic presence. Sidi's Sue Gray has no time for the guarded equivocations of Westminster; garrulous, filter-free and a straight shooter, she's a breath of fresh air.
The real Sue Gray's place at the heart of British politics allows Sidi's mouthy creation to spill the beans on what really goes on. It's complete nonsense of course, Sidi doesn't actually have insider knowledge, but her chat still gives a hit of gossip and the 'truthiness' makes the breezy insights stupidly satisfying. Philip Hammond: nice bloke; Dominic Raab: cunt, obviously; and Keir Starmer, 'dripping in rizz'. Sue's a saff London girl, or Essex maybe; with her 'what am I like?' and 'nah, mate', the characterisation is pin sharp.
Sue freely admits to being terrible for procrastinating, so the Partygate report was a nightmare, what with her ASOS habit. She left loads of stuff out: Michael Gove ate a frog. 'I asked him why and he said, 'I like it''. She shrugs. Live and let live.
Our Sue is a born raconteur, leaning on the water cooler, regaling us with tasty titbits, but Sidi cleverly includes two distinct sections which inject a new energy. Using her 'buffer' language (Spanglish) in order to cope with re-visiting traumatic memories, the sections are beyond ridiculous; genuinely leftfield and yet entirely grounded in character.
Satirical without being satire, the show avoids the 'preaching to the choir' problem which is so often an issue with political comedy. There is a message of sorts, though, and for all Sue's easy-going tolerance, there remains a key note of outrage at those 'self-serving cunts and their total contempt for the public'.
Emma Sidi is Sue Gray, Pleasance Courtyard (Upstairs), until 25 Aug, 4.15pm, sold out; extra show at Pleasance Dome (Queen Dome), 22 Aug, 11.10pm, £16