Review > Iszi Lawrence: Matter of Tact - Free
ISZI Lawrence’s stand-up is all over the place, this perky young comic visibly enthused by her packed gig and the thoughts she’s developing.
It makes for a rather haphazard hour, with her ideas often running ahead of their execution, but she frequently employs a nice, descriptive turn of phrase and you can forgive her apparent need to relate most things to Harry Potter.
If there’s a core theme, it’s about her retaining her atheism while remaining tactful around her Christian friends and the Muslim part of her family. And on the whole, it’s a sound tactic, the comic having her Muslim honey cake and eating it by mocking religion just stridently enough not to be banished from the inner circles supplying her anecdotes. Mind you, she has a lovely take on Heaven and Hell, and the fact that she has to explain additional details scarcely detract from what’s a very clever, environmentally conscious gag.
Comparisons can be made to the likes of Robin Ince and Marcus Brigstocke in terms of her right-on reading habits, but Lawrence offers enough sparks of originality to suggest her voice will develop more distinctively in the future.
Until 30 August. Today 2:45pm.
