Kiri Pritchard-McLean is not the kind of comedian who shies away from difficult subjects. Her last two shows have addressed sexism and child-grooming. In Victim, Complex, she gets much more personal, dissecting a relationship that looked like it was leading to marriage but instead led to panic attacks.
The brassy farmer’s daughter is a skilful stand-up and eases her audience into the thick of it with some gently smutty back story. By her own admission she can be needy, yet everything seemed to be on track. She even had a ring and plans to propose. Except that there were suspicions that her partner was not being entirely truthful about his friendship with another woman. One of the many morals here is trust one’s instincts. Pritchard-McLean spotted signs, but questions were met with denials and suggestions that her imagination was running riot.
While there are plenty of laugh-out-loud lines, there are also breathtaking twists and devastatingly raw, shudder-inducing moments during this account of the worst period of her life.
Victim, Complex is a comedy show that will make you gasp, touching on #timesup and mental health issues. It is all the more gobsmacking because the story is told by someone who seems so strong. If it can happen to her it can happen to anyone. To go into further detail would spoil hearing it from Pritchard-McLean herself.
Yet despite hitting rock bottom, by the end she is empowered. Towards the cathartic close Pritchard-McLean says that she hates doing this show and has been tempted to stop doing it ever since it premiered in Edinburgh last summer.
But she also wants to spread a message. The ovation as she finishes suggests that it is a message many women want to hear.
Until February 23 then May 13 to 18 (020 7478 0100, sohotheatre.com)
