EDINBURGH 2021: Review: MISS HONEY, Assembly Showcatcher

Miss Honey is a new digital production written by and starring Joanna Griffin and directed by Róisín O'Mahony. Performed as a one-woman show and filmed in London's Glory Nightclub, the audience is led into the bar as though by a friend encouraging you to sit down for a drink.

Nena chatters away to the camera, telling tales of one night stands and occasionally stopping her monologue to add "shall we get shots"? The contrast between the woman with the sensible job and the nightclub reveller is not particularly subtle and begins to border on irritating. Nena is the friend who doesn't know when to call it a night.

I feel as though the branding and blurb of Miss Honey has perhaps done it a disservice. Miss Honey is sold as a hilarious comedy about a private tutor by day and mad party girl by night. There's a much more relatable, vulnerable side to the story and this is its real strength and what I think most people will connect with.

Nena speaks fondly of her best friend throughout the show but her disappointment is clear when she finds out she is pregnant. Not so much that her friend is pregnant, it's her quiet "I didn't know you were trying" line that cuts deep. This happens throughout, her closest friends are making big life changes and she doesn't even hear about them first hand. Nena does seem to enjoy her lifestyle but it is clearly affecting her that her friends who were once her partners in crime are moving on.

Miss Honey runs at just under 40mins so unlike Nena, doesn't overstay its welcome.

Miss Honey is available on demand via Assembly Showcatcher from 6 August.

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