Rosie Jones Triple Threat ⚝⚝⚝⚝⚝
Soho Theatre
Rosie Jones is a National Treasure. Or at least she aims to be, and as she has observed there seems to be a one in one out policy for the title she is ready to take down David Attenborough, Joanne Lumley, or any other able or disable bodied person who gets in her way. No person and no topic is off limits. If the result isn’t a silly, sloppy smile on her audience’s faces then they couldn’t have been at the show she smashed at the Soho Theatre Tuesday night.
QueerGuru are starting from a biased perspective. The last show we reviewed, Backward, by Ms Jones in 2020 just prior to the pandemic, (https://queerguru.com/queergurus-andrew-hebden-reviews-rosie-jones-and-her-search-for-sapphic-sustenance/ )was also at the Soho Theatre. It was a hard to beat 4 star sapphic love boat and since then she has only become more dirty, dangerous and delightful.
For those who don’t know her Ms Jones reminds us that it does take a moment to tune into ‘Radio Rosie’. Her combination of flat Yorkshire vowels and atypical pace and modulation caused by cerebral palsy is utterly distinctive and used to superb effect. If comedy is timing then no one can do comedy like her.
The stories are wild. From shagging in bins and ambitions of assassinating Attenborough to the extraordinary inability of Dads to fill dead air in phone calls so that Mums can do an occasional poo she celebrates the abundance of absurdity in life. Savagely playful about her own sexuality she leaves the audience with no doubt she is a player herself. Her vulva acquires legendary status in her sexcapades, and, it must be said, with the naughty sparkle in her eyes and supernaturally shiny hair we can see how she tends to be a winner in the game of Rock, Paper, Scissor sisters.
Jones defies expectation in person but also in her decisions over the show’s structure. The moment of pathos does not come, an arc of angst and reflection is avoided, the invitation to the audience for sympathy is unopened. Nobody receives pats on the head for their virtuous attendance. It’s a very pure comic approach. Jones needs nothing else.
Queerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA and cultural STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day”
Labels: 2024, Andrew Hebden, London Soho Theatre, review, Rosie Jones, Triple Threat
