Witty, silly and fun underlined by refreshing sincerity. A star in the making
Isobel Rogers’ musical comedy show is not perfect but is guaranteed fun for any fans of the format. Her talent for putting cheeky and sincere side by side is a real treat for the audience, who are gifted to as many songs and anecdotes as she can fit in an hour.
Her songs are filled with witty lines, naked honesty and a sweet layer of sincerity underneath it all. One of her opening songs makes a laughing stock of all the characters you meet at a wedding, but this is underpinned by sincere worries and anxieties about love, commitment, and arranging the whole extravaganza. This is par for the course for the whole show, each song is funny and silly while counter balancing the light hearted nature of every line with some more honest self contemplations. This is easily the greatest strength Isobel Rogers has has a songwriter/comedian, her ability to ease you in to songs with punchy one liners, impressions and jokes so that she can explore perhaps deeper thoughts and worries in a relatable technique.
Each song ranges from wedding anxiety, living with her mother, to insecurity regarding her partners past lovers. Tying all of these together is this underlying theme of being content; how do find or make ourselves content in a world full of comparisons, full of those seemingly having made their perfect picture lives. Isobel doesn’t give us an answer, a half truth or a promise that we can find it, but reassures us that we all feel and understand her, as we laugh to a joke before being silent as we contemplate her singing a thought a lot of us share but are too scared to acknowledge.
Her songs can run foul of one main problem which is that perhaps too many run on longer than needed to exhaust herself of all jokes and more insightful honesty. I think most run their course a minute or two before they actually finish, some tightening the belt on existing songs to make space for a few more would be an ‘easy’ win in terms of pushing the show further. She’s at her best when talking about her own feelings with a softly spoken brutal kind of honesty, potentially focusing on this thematic aspect could push the show further. I really hope next time she performs we get to see more of that, and see a little bit more of ourselves in her music. The humour is similarly consistent fun throughout but doesn’t reach the heights of consistent belly laughs, pushing the envelope on the jokes as well as the emotional punchlines just a bit would turn this into a must see.
It’s not the tightest music or comedy show out there, but this was a really fun, relatable, and comforting show to watch. The ingredients are there in both the content of the songs and Isobel Rogers’ disarming and charismatic stage presence. She understands what makes this format so well and has the potential to make something really amazing given time.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/isobel-rogers-how-to-be-content