Comedy: Iliza Schlesinger

I'm wary of comedy acts I haven't heard of before, so I always check them out on YouTube. Iliza Schlesinger sounded ok, so I booked for her show tonight in the Soho Theatre. Well, her show last Monday was sold out, so I thought I wouldn't take a chance. Now, had the Tube strike promised for this week gone ahead, this would have been another of those long, long walks - but the strike was scary enough to drive them into talks, and it was postponed. And my life was made a little easier.

I was really lucky with Tubes this evening, actually - whenever I arrived on a platform, a train I wanted wasn't far behind! This is the first time in quite a while that I've been to Soho Theatre without Let's Do London - for less! but I managed to get there in time anyway. Five minutes in advance of the scheduled time, I arrived and made my way downstairs to the comedy venue. You have to wait to be seated - the usher led me to the chairs at the back. The place was very full - from where I was, I could only see one spare seat. I was on a couch last time - unfortunately, this time I had to take a chair, and yes, they are as uncomfortable as they look!

It was quite a while before the show started. They'd advertised that latecomers would be denied admission - but they weren't, so you can relax on that score. Finally, the lady herself arrived onstage, her only props a glass of water, which she didn't want and placed to the side, a can of Red Bull, and a stool to put them on.

This is a funny, funny lady. I liked what I saw online, and I liked her even more in person. There's a saying that there's nothing funnier than the truth, and this might be the show to prove it. She's got such a sharp eye for the realities of human behaviour. Her show on this occasion focuses on women, how they behave, how they dress, and how they seek to entrap men. Her insights had us laughing - cheering on occasion - and were punctuated by voice changes, exaggerated actions.. I'd love to have a chat with her over drinks and hear her in full flow. My personal favourite was when she described the necessary posture when wearing heels - "just imagine you're a cat about to be put in a bath". Paws splayed, you see. Indeed.

Oh, and when describing skinny jeans, she took on the persona of the squashed vagina. As she remarked after that bit, "the critics down the back are going to say that's the only time in the show that she adopted a British accent" (she's American). Well, yes, and a very nice British accent it was, too.

Nicely feminist. I really enjoyed it. The run ends on Saturday - check it out. Also nice to get out early - the show took slightly less than an hour.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to the Boat Show - with the Tube strike suspended, I might actually make it this time - you might remember that I was supposed to go before, but booked the wrong date. On Saturday, I'm back with the London Dramatic Arts group, for Oresteia at Trafalgar Studios - its West End transfer. (I see it's at the Globe as well - bummer, that'd have been good. And now Let's Do London - for less! is headed there in October, to see that self-same show. We'll see how I feel.)

On Sunday, I'm headed to the Scoop, for their free double bill of classical plays. Technically, I'm accompanying the Free London Events and Talks group, but with 100 of us going, I doubt I'll be much bothered with actually meeting anyone. Unless I see someone I know. Interesting procedure - this Meetup has no organiser; as the guy said, just go with your friends! So obviously, the point of having it as a Meetup at all isn't to meet, it's just to advertise that something is happening.

On Monday, I'm going to the Proms, and on Tuesday I'm going to What's It All About? Bacharach, at the Menier Chocolate Factory. I was thinking of a film for Wednesday, and finally got around to finishing next week's film list today. I noticed a lot of horror films - turns out Frightfest is running! Sadly, it's over by then - top of my list for Wednesday is The Look of Silence, which is finally showing at a time I can manage. The BFI is running it, and I've booked for the early showing that day, which was already mostly sold out. Gee, it's ages since I've been there!

For Thursday, I got a cheap ticket to a classical concert at Cadogan Hall - nice and close. Then I'm back to Ireland next weekend..