Review: RACHEL FAIRBURN: SIDE EYE, Leicester Square Theatre

“I’m on a stage, why do I care about you?”

Rachel Fairburn: Side Eye is, as one might expect from the title, a bit of a judgmental show. Walking into the Leicester Square Theatre, audience members are greeted by a table that is filled with seven brightly-painted mannequin heads, each with their own expression of judgment on their faces. In a quick introduction, Fairburn explains the show to us. The show, directed by Rohan Acharya, has two parts - the first is chararacter comedy, which is quickly established by the mannequin heads on the stage. After an interval, Fairburn will return to the stage, this time as herself, doing some stand-up comedy until the end of the show. 

In order to get into the different characters, Fairburn has one main identifying accessory for each person she is portraying, typically some kind of head gear like a baseball cap or a turban (Fairburn jokes that her team was quite worried when she told them she’d need a turban for the show!), as well as some props, including a tote bag that proudly proclaims “I <3 Oral.” And the people she brings to life are very much characters - pretty much caricatures to a point. 

A delightful surprise as we get to know more of the characters is how all of them are somehow connected. Whether it’s Camila Churchill Mountbatten, a spoiled rich girl who goes by her “grime name,” “Daddy’s Girl” and sings about her father’s penis, Kelly, an exhausted mother at a chup shop or Daphne, the “Bad Bitch” whose life has completely changed after her partner leaving her, all of them are connected to the man of the hour - Jimmy Woods, also known as “Jimmy the Jizz.” And watching all of this go down? The devil herself, with horns on her head and a wicked gleam in her eye, observing the humans as their lives fall apart.

Some of the characters, like “Daddy’s Girl,” were funny at first but got old pretty quickly. Others were incredible - I honestly could have watched an hour of Dame Ellen giving a speech about all of the people in Hollywood she’s slept with. All of them, however, had some truly brilliant one-liners, like Jimmy’s mum saying, “It’s Make A Wish, not ‘Get What You Want’” (no, the context does not make it better) and Daphne claiming that manifesting is simply “Click and Collect in space.” 

The stand-up was the highlight of the show for me, as I hadn’t seen Fairburn before and was interested in how the second half compared to the charcter comedy. Fairburn is my ideal comedian - blunt, biting and absolutely hilarious. Some of the topics covered in this segment include - but are not limited to - Fairburn’s hatred for weddings, what she considers to be a “good death” ( “Three years, freezer aisle, sorted”) and the way her partner reacts whenever he falls ill, made funnier by the fact that said partner is in the audience. 

I particularly loved Fairburn’s talk about about her hatred for crowdwork, as even though I don’t fully agree with her, she makes some great points and does some funny “reenactments” of how comedians on social media will make clips of their crowdwork and post them online for views, depending on the audience for a good set. Fairburn will have none of that, declaring, “I’m on a stage, why do I care about you?” It’s stand-up in its purest form - no narrative tying everything together, just Fairburn telling jokes about her life that she worries will have some asking, “What is that gnome’s problem?”

Rachel Fairburn: Side Eye is a fun mix of character comedy and stand-up that makes for a more unique night out in London in an environment packed with open mics and stand-up sets. I hope to see more characters from Fairburn in the future - maybe with their own versions of stand-up!

Rachel Fairburn: Side Eye tours until June

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