REVIEW: Sam Carlyle: My Life and Other Jokes at the Bread and Roses Theatre

Sam Carlyle might just be your new best friend - that’s the feeling you leave the theatre with after an hour with her. She’s funny, relatable, and will have you bopping to your favourite noughties tunes from the word go. 

Tapping into the experiences shared by the majority of women who grew up to the soundtrack of Shakira, the Spice Girls, and Britney, Carlyle’s comedy covers everything from online dating to customer service, to your first cervical exam. 

The latter is a particularly funny moment, as pianist Thomas Duchan breaks his silence to take on the role of ‘nurse’ as Carlyle sings through the experience to Britney’s ‘I’m not a girl, not yet a woman’. 

However, sometimes the show’s leaning towards relatable experiences is what lets it down. Carlyle’s confidence and character shine through best when she is performing her hilarious covers, such as ‘Question: Tell me why you don’t have a boyfriend', and she certainly doesn’t lack comic instincts, but it feels at times like she could take it further. 

REVIEW: Statements at the Bread and Roses Theatre

There are shows that you take in like a deep breath, and Statements is one of them. Essential and seamless, it offers an invaluable insight into the poorly understood facets of special educational needs.

Drawing from first-hand experience, writer and performer Samuel Clayton depicts a multi-dimensional world where Asperger's, Down Syndrome and Emotional Behavioural Disorder are seen through the eyes of three young boys and those who surround them. Each of these characters seem to live inside Samuel, who effortlessly shapes them with an impressive repertoire of inflexions and body language. He oozes innocence, worry, indifference, loneliness, joy with such a moving candour that is hard to believe this doesn't come straight from his heart.

Daniel is nine and has Asperger's, which might, or might not be considered within the Autism spectrum. He really likes music, and, for this reason, he can often be found humming and tapping away. Many people don't like this habit he has but, as a matter of fact, we all have habits and, at least, his are clean. He finds it hard to emotionally relate to other people and can't quite work out the true meaning of metaphors, until the day his mother decides to take him to his first live gig and a world of colourful patterns and shapes explodes inside him translating into tears. Clayton paints this scene with such vivid colours that I felt entirely transported to the venue, as if I was listening to the jazz concert sat beside him.