An Irish import in London, Grace Mulvey is adroit at observing the differences between the two cultures. And she’s unquestionably correct in noting the repressed English discomfort with death, in stark contrast with her easy familiarity with funerals and wakes. Yet in this disappointing follow-up to her charmingly breezily debut last year, the stand-up is guilty of some of the same, dancing around the big, difficult subject she charges others with.
Contrasting the many weddings she attends with the quirks and relative depth of a good Irish send-off, Mulvey spends more than the first quarter of her show discerning reasons for the alarming state of the world, contrivedly borne out of the death or otherwise of prominent Game of Thrones characters. Amusing nonsense this may be. But it’s hard to escape a feeling that she’s holding back on truly engaging with her stated preoccupation. Though tangentially linked, Mulvey’s body issues and even her relationship status feel like further padding. Her eccentric, still living father’s legacy and an awful dynastic tragedy in her family belatedly hauls the show into focus. Yet for such universal subject matter, her profundity about death is negligible. And her optimistic but weak ending is an unconvincing afterthought.
Grace Mulvey: Did You Hear We’re All Going To Die?, Assembly George Square, until 24 Aug (not 11), 2.50pm