Jain Edwards: She-Devil

Underbelly Bristo Square

Jain Edwards’ She Devil is an admittedly relevant piece of theatre that uses understated character comedy to convey a deeply personal and somewhat political hour of stand-up. It’s definitely an interesting concept, but overall She-Devil doesn’t quite deliver on what we would assume the promise and premise of this show to be.

 

Over the course of this show, Edwards tries her hand at some character comedy work presenting a self-described ‘guy’s girl’ to us in the form of a blank character sheet. It would be considered an extreme if it wasn’t so blatantly normal and average. And whilst that may be the point, we have to ask ourselves why do we even care. Is the point of this character to strip back everything so that we focus on the underlying thematic components? Even if that were the case, the character is so mild that we can’t even get angry about anything else Edwards is trying to convey. Te character herself doesn’t quite do enough for us to truly want to take up arms to defend her. There is no character progression, or even back-pedalling that we can glean from Edwards’ performance. Any change in the character (because there isn’t enough to truly call it ‘development’) is concentrated at the very end of the hour, at the very last and possible moment. Even then it’s a very shallow arc that is mostly at the command of the script rather than any naturally occurring growth. Edwards is successful in creating a small character, but she constantly shrinks to the point where it’s difficult to connect with her; she makes herself so small that there’s hardly anything for us to grab on and relate to. It’s unclear how much of this show is fictional or autobiographical but in creating this character, Edwards distances herself and us from the narrative so that whilst she carefully guides us though all of these red flags and recognisable instances of toxicity, the fact that she takes a step back from both the material and us means that all the emotional impact that this show may have evaporates. It’s hard to do anything apart from just shrug apathetically and move on, but that’s the feeling that we’re left with at the end.

 

The script is the main strength of She-Devil. It brings in language and phrases that we can immediately pick up and understand the reference to. Although mild, the comedy comes through in the tongue-in-cheek manner that Edwards uses to tell the story, coming secondary to the dog-whistles that Edwards includes. She carves in many details throughout her storytelling that build up a sense of realism, but doesn’t do anything to vary the tone or urgency with which it’s told, creating an overall feeling of monotony. It comes to the point where we can pick up a slight rhythm and similarity to each distinct part of the show, although this may be a deliberate tool by Edwards to further convey how toxicity can express itself.

”It’s hard to do anything apart from just shrug apathetically and move on, but that’s the feeling that we’re left with at the end.”

She-Devil is initially a cross between character and stand-up comedy and for three-quarters of the show that is the modus operandi. Towards the end, Edwards brings in more theatrical elements that seemingly come out of nowhere. Initially there are some trace elements of production design sprinkled throughout; a recording about a witch from the start and the male matryoshkas props, but they’re not big enough to bridge the gap between having a very realistic show and then suddenly bringing in fantastical elements. It doesn’t help that there has been no previous build-up of tension or urgency, so even adding some special effects falls flat in an anticlimactic heap. Had Edwards introduced these theatrical elements earlier or more evenly over the course of She-Devil as a form of foreshadowing or just added some character development, perhaps it would be more impactful, but due to the lack of explanation, all we see is something inexplicably supernatural happening and not even our suspension of disbelief is enough to make the transition less jarring.

 

The main issue is that since the character arc hasn’t been developed properly, our engagement with the material is minimised. She-Devil is saying a lot, but doesn’t quite progress the issue. It’s an ‘this problem exists’ show that yes makes us think, but because we’ve heard this all before, just washes over us. It’s a mild show that doesn’t leave us with anything beyond the walls of the venue.

 

By Katerina Partolina Schwartz

Photo Credit: ToasterHead