If life begins at 40, where does that leave the decades already under your belt? Rachel Parris fashions a loose theme for her musical-comedy show Poise out of that landmark birthday – not in preparation for a life about to begin, but in reflection of one already well-lived. Particularly in the last few years, when – by Parris’s account – she finally usurped Nish Kumar as host of The Mash Report, and inherited a suite of domestic roles (wife, mother, stepmother, wise old sage) in which she’d never hitherto imagined herself.
Comedy that mines the surprise at finding oneself middle-aged is not in itself surprising: it’s a familiar standup pose. This might play into the first impression of Parris’s act: it’s elegant and accomplished but a bit middle of the road. Even her satirical jokes (“I know most of you are here to hear me slag off the Tories …”) often restate conclusions we’ve already reached, be that Keir Starmer’s thinness on policy or Liz Truss’s rank incompetence.
