Type: Fringe Theatre, Cabaret, Musical Theatre
If You Liked: Gillian Cosgriff, Liza W A Z,
“It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights, it’s time to change the tune so we don’t get copyright striked” has been in my head since I saw Issy Coomber Assigned Puppet At Birth. It’s a gleeful and manically clever new cabaret which I have no doubt will become a staple of the cabaret, comedy, and fringe festivals circuit in years to come. The title is derived from a comical, albeit terrifying, cease and desist that Coomber received from a particular multinational media juggernaut who took umbrage with the piece’s original title – a fact that Coomber playfully fans throughout the show.
Like a master puppeteer, Coomber guides the audience through their touching gender journey. Often providing hysterical observations on young queer life, they consistently maintain a sense of being authentically themselves. I think the best description I can give to the type of energy Coomber brings is: an ADHD-riddled love child of Liza Minnelli and Animal from the Muppets. It’s deeply alluring, and you can’t help but smile.
The original songs are resonant, and many feel wholly contemporary music theatre. A particular highlight was Don’t Have Kids If You Wouldn’t Want A Furry, which takes the coming-out trope to a hilarious extreme while still landing a salient point.
As the show rounds out, we meet young Issy, a small marionette puppet that older Issy cradles with the care many do not have for their own inner child. When Issy says something to the effect of, “I wonder if she’s okay with what I’ve done to her,” a pit swelled inside me, thinking about what younger me would feel about where I’ve landed in my own gender journey. That’s why I love theatre, and why I adored this production. It really awoke something in me and made me wonder about young me.
I highly recommend you check this piece out when it flails its arms in a venue near you.
