★★★★
You have to stand back occasionally and process how fucked up things have become. We were watching a stand-up show by a woman who lives in exile because she has been directly threatened by the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!!! And for what, speaking truth to power, using the 1st Amendment? Yet this fact is but a footnote in Rosie O’Donnell’s taut hour about her upbringing, her children and her ancestral home of Ireland.
O’Donnells’ skill as a stand-up is unparalleled. What’s impressive is that many established legends rely solely on their cache, doing the same old stuff, but not Rosie, in her sixth decade she has moved into a soulful and melancholy storytelling that’s mesmerising. She even jokes in her brash New York patter ‘I thought this was a comedy show!’ Before firing a confetti gun into the audience. That’s not to say the show isn’t very, very funny! She can shift gears from hilarity to heartbreak in seconds.
Her use of the Orange elephant in the room is perfect, he doesn’t get to dominate the story, but serve as an example of how you stand up to bullies and fascists.
The way she speaks about losing her mum at a young age, and then in turn becoming an adoptive mother later in life runs together with expert insight.
What struck me most as an autistic person, was that O’Donnell talks about her autistic child with respect. With understanding – it wasn’t the usual ‘let’s make this all about me’ narrative of parents of autistic kids, she was genuinely championing her child; she makes a worthy ambassador for us autistics.
The whole show is so considered, put together with such care, that every moment connects and builds upon the last, it was a privilege to have Rosie at the fringe, what a coo!
