Not the least achievement of Chloe Petts’ debut show Transience was that it waded into the most heated debate of the day, gender fluidity, and emerged all sweetness and smiles. Quite the turnaround, then, that its follow-up rebrands Petts as angry and aggressive. It’s a case of “no more Mr Nice Chloe”, she snarls, in a show that addresses Petts’ issues (according to her therapist) with suppressed rage.
That’s the conceit, at any rate, and you can see what attracted her to it. She describes herself as a split personality – one half “beautiful gentle queer”, one half “the referee’s a wanker”, Crystal Palace-supporting geezer. We have had the former’s show, so now why not the latter’s? There’s comic mileage, too, in watching this indelibly good-natured comic play hostile. She may start off faux-bullying the men in the front row, but by the end it’s all flirtation and batted eyelids.
If the show’s not quite as compelling as its predecessor, it’s because furious Chloe isn’t as lightly worn a persona as the kindhearted host of Transience – and because the search for the roots of her anger is not, finally, very revealing. The critical moment in this journey of self-discovery finds Petts threatened with a knife on a London bus. We also delve deeper into her primary-school past for instances of the petty injustice on which her rage feeds.
These are always engaging episodes in Petts’ hands – she’s an adept, expressive storyteller and rarely misses the opportunity for a sly joke. But they’re not as plainly joyous as when she sidesteps the anger theme, in a section, for example, about how much she loves straight weddings. In this territory, where her own gender identity gives her superpowers in gender-conforming company, Petts’ insights and infectious pleasure are impossible to resist. See also a choice one-liner about how she menstruates in a masculine manner.
You will be amused if not wholly convinced, then, by Petts’ reinvention as the “gay Andrew Tate” – and happy to reacquaint yourself with “Mr Nice Chloe”, who emerges like a phoenix from the flames to steal this likable sophomore show.
• At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 27 August.
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