It’s optimistic and delightfully odd, it may not change your life but will definitely lift your spirits
The Moon wants to be a star, and perhaps for this 60-minute show it is. Lucy Pearman is back after 6 years, and shines in her new character based comedy show Lucy Pearman: Lunartic. If the title is any giveaway, this show is full to the brim with puns in which Pearman playing “The Moon” enjoys taking as far as they can go, even if it is all the way to outer space.
The show relies quite heavily on audience participation and props. The Moon singles out audience members to help her hold things, take notes, jump over her, wear hats and even give her a cheeky kiss. She affectionately calls members of the audience sweethearts as she is keen to be loved in return. There isn’t necessarily a narrative to the show, which makes the unfolding action feel more unhinged. However there is an overarching threat to the Moon’s reach for stardom, an eclipse or more specifically the sun; who she says has been in a bad mood ever since Icarus who she describes as brave but thick, “thickacrus” – which was one of my favourite jokes of the evening.
Throughout the show Pearman sings, most notably at the start she enters from the back, with a sense of foreshadowing, singing Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart as she wades her way through the audience encouraging members to sing into the mic while simultaneously tries not to hit the people with her comedically large costume. Pearman wears a massive reflective disc with arm and head holes cut through, with two glittery aliens with special features stuck on her chest. The costume is so impractical that she insists that an audience member lifts her up and down from the stage for the first half of the show. Her face is also painted silver with dramatic blue glitter eyeshadow, but as the show goes on this silver paint slowly melts off her face which is another funny touch.
This show is the type of show you’d like to see late at night at the fringe, it’s optimistic and delightfully odd, it may not change your life but will definitely lift your spirits. Pearman’s performance is committed and engaging, she does not take itself too seriously and implores her audience not to either. I recommend this show to anyone that wants to see something strange, so go with a friend and have a laugh. It’s very daft and full of great prop work and to describe it to someone will definitely sound like you’ve had a fever dream but regardless I was happy to see it at 9:15pm on a Thursday evening.
Lucy Pearman: Lunartic is on for a final night at Soho Theatre Dean Street, Saturday 4th October 9:15 pm.