Review: HENRY MOSS: HENRY QUEEN OF SQUATS, Soho Theatre

“What if your only LinkedIn skill is ‘pizzazz?’”

Henry Moss: Henry Queen of Squats begins with the sounds of an orchestra warming up before the lights dim. From those first few seconds, you can tell that you’re in for a dramatic performance, and Moss certainly lives up to these expectations. 

Henry Moss, a self-described “high-strung musical theatre gay” and “micro-managing lyrical jazz dancer,” moved to London seven years ago to follow his dreams of dancing and maybe, just maybe, to fall in love. He sees and lives his life through the eyes of a romantic comedy, constantly referring back to one of his favourite shows, Sex and the City, at one point even having an audience member read off a script to give him a “Carrie Bradshaw voiceover.” Moss is joined by pianist Anto Buckley and Stage Manager Julia Dray to create an interesting mix of standup and cabaret (though, can it be considered a cabaret if only a few seconds of each song are performed?). 

The main theme throughout Henry Moss: Henry Queen of Squats is Moss’s journey to find love and his upcoming wedding to his partner, Jack. Even though he doesn’t want to appear as “homo-normative,” Moss dreams of a big wedding in London and a hen-do where he and his friends - two Britneys and two Lisas - go to Magic Mike Live. Moss also talks a bit about his engagement, emphasising the importance of the Instagram engagement post as the one post that everyone will see. 

Some of my favourite bits from Moss are the quick bits that only last for a minute or two before he jumps into a different joke. This includes talking about his TikTok audience demographic, which he was surprised to discover was 89.5% women aged 21-25, but he accepts it, saying “Women in the arts, this is for you.”

There’s also a fantastic joke about meditation applications like Headspace in which Moss pretends to be listening to a meditation audio, whic begins with, “You’ve chosen the ‘I’m About to Lose My Shit’ Pack.” One of the highlights of the show for me was when Moss went into his job in marketing and how he has learned to speak “mean girl” to the seven other women on the marketing team, sending hilarious emails that anyone who has worked in an office would wish that they could send. 

Along with his comedy, Moss is joined by Buckley on the piano for a few numbers including hit musical theatre songs like “December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” from Jersey Boys “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music and “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy. Even with only a few seconds from each of these songs, Moss shows off his great singing voice (and a few dance moves!). Moss also does some incredible impressions over his set including a hilarious Judi Dench and a scarily-accurate Daniel Radcliffe. He also gives a Northern accent a go, which led to some of the biggest laughs from the crowd. 

Ultimately, Henry Moss: Henry Queen of Squats is a fun show that allows Moss to show off his performance skills through standup, song and even dance! There is a little bit of a storyline focused on Moss’s upcoming wedding and how he met and fell in love with his partner, but a plot isn’t really needed for audiences to still enjoy this cabaret-like performance. 

Henry Moss: Henry Queen of Squats ran on 8 February 2024 at Soho Theatre.

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