August 3, 2026 at Soho Theatre
How do you write comedy under fascism? That’s the question Patti Harrison asks on the opening night of her two-week run at the Soho Theatre. Faced with Trump in the White House, ICE on the streets, and the dismantling of trans rights, Harrison tells us she’s been struggling to perform, every new horror prompting her take a step back from the stage. Tonight’s show sees Harrison trying to relocate her creativity and, as she warns the audience: “it might be really hard for all of us”.
Harrison has been a frequent visitor to these shores, with her body horror masterpiece, My Huge Tits Huge Because They Are Infected NOT FAKE!, followed last year by a run of ‘variety’ shows with comedy friends and acquaintances, in which Harrison asked her co-conspirators to read a series of potentially career-ending scripts. The show that made me laugh the most, though, was the chaotic genius of Harry Potter-themed A Magical Evening With Patti Harrison, in which she paid backhanded tribute to children’s author/evil transphobe J.K. Rowling and, among many other things, persuaded bona fide superstar Ayo Edebiri to participate in a deranged Harry Potter read-through as an owl giving head.
Tonight finds Harrison in more pensive mood. Audiences used to her characteristic bait-and-switch – where Harrison convinces you she’s being sincere, only to pull the rug out from beneath – might be surprised to see a more serious Harrison, with a long, jokeless section in which she muses on the changing relationship of the citizenry to their government. But Harrison’s sincerity has its limits, and she has her hands firmly on the rug. She is a scathing critic of the apoliticism of wellness culture, and when the audience responds positively to a classic protest chant about trans rights, Harrison chides them: we don’t “stand up, fight back”; we go on a social media cleanse and start journaling. The glorious climax of the show is another of Harrison’s trademark scripts, again skewering liberal multiculturalism and girlboss feminism using the language of Instagram – this time wrapped up in a grotesque trans allegory.
Dullards and the terminally online will tell you that you can’t say anything these days. Patti Harrison is proof that you can. Whether it’s Hamas, Mamdani or [redacted Hollywood star] giving a blowjob, Harrison’s monstrous comedy is the perfect mirror for our deeply mediocre times. Some audience members have wanted a higher joke-to-social-critique ratio, but tonight it felt cathartic to witness Harrison trying to find her comic voice in dark times.
Runs until the 15th August. Get tickets from Soho Theatre here!
Sarah Stringer
Dave Baillie