Review: CHARLIE VERO-MARTIN: PICNIC, Soho Theatre

“Picnics are important for all of us”

Do you like picnics? Charlie Vero-Martin certainly does, and she’s ready to share her love for the activity with the world. Walking into the Soho Theatre’s Upstairs, you are greeted by a full picnic spread including hampers, rainbow banners and even artifical turf. Vero-Martin greets everyone with a smile and a badge, passing around a packet of Cadbury Fingers for you to enjoy before the show starts.

Charlie Vero-Martin: Picnic is a collection of sketches is Vero-Martin interjecting between them, telling us about how excited she is for our big picnic at the end of the show. 

Most of the show is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation with bright graphics and cheery music, giving a very friendly atmosphere to the room. This is further emphasised by Vero-Martin breaking several times throughout the show, grinning and telling us that “It’s okay to laugh.” Vero-Martin is also joined on stage by Daniella, a silent stage hand who runs around, helping with costume changes and props [all of the costumes are appropriately kept in a hamper], communicating through facial expressions and the occasional shrug. 

The first character we are introduced to is Professor Marina von Flipflop, a woman who studies fish and has something incredibly important to tell us - did you know that sea urchins wear hats to feel more confident? This is, as the PowerPoint boldly states, a fact. Vero-Martin has created an adorable axolotl puppet named Allen, who is constantly trying to escape her grasp to wander around the theatre. The puppetry throughout the show is simple yet delightful! Other puppets throughout the show include hermit crabs and a talking picnic basket, appropriately named “Mr. Basketcase.”

In the second scene, we are being given a PSA - a “Pinecone Safety Announcement” - by one of the many pinecones who has the task of sitting on antique chairs at National Trust sites to prevent people from sitting on them, but, as the pinecone says, “Most of our campaigns are waged against American tourists.” This was probably my favourite sketch of the night with Vero-Martin wearing a hat with a pinecone on top of it and camo to “hide” the rest of her body. The PowerPoint of pinecones at different sites, which our pinecone refers to as family members, is hilarious. 

Then, we moved into a parody of yoga influencers by being introduced to Persephone Gemstone, the CEO of The Magic of Yoni. She discusses a range of topics including liking an audience member’s aura, the levels of “Truth Vines,” and her new book, White Woman Hugging Tree. A particularly great bit within this sketch is when Persephone tells us about her "Harvest Magic" retreat, which is actually a farm that women work on for little to no pay to harvest what’s needed for Persephone’s health products. 

There isn’t much audience interaction or crowd work during the show as it is mostly a series of sketches, but at one point we become Sims as Vero-Martin tells us what to do, including the commands “Ride a horse” and “Do a dance,” before she becomes the Sim and things become sexual very quickly! There is also a moment in which we are all told to either stand up and turn around or close our eyes, as Soho Theatre would not allow Vero-Martin to tell everyone to leave the room for a scene change. 

Without going into too many spoilers, Charlie Vero-Martin: Picnic takes a dark turn as it is revealed that all of the sketches had been clues, connecting together to lead us on a different path than the “big picnic” that we were told to anticipate. To give a small hint, a moment of realisation for the audience begins when Vero-Martin says to the audience with a grin, “Now you’ve all seen Florence Pugh in Midsommar . . .” Everything has been building up to this moment. Yes, even the Cadbury Fingers!

Charlie Vero-Martin: Picnic is a delightful sketch show with an unexpected yet hilarious ending that manages to tie everything together. Vero-Martin does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the characters she plays and performs each sketch with an admirable level of enthusiasm. 

Charlie Vero-Martin: Picnic ran on 14 February 2024 at Soho Theatre.

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