Jordan Gray wants you to know that she’s famous now. The last few years have been a whirlwind, as she illustrates with a supercut: of her Channel 4 special; sitcom; and various TV spots that have – to put it lightly – enraged a load of bigots. Gray’s follow-up to her barnstorming 2022 debut Is It a Bird, which set nigh-insurmountable expectations, doesn’t quite deliver the same delightful surprise. But what could?
Gray takes us through the highs and lows of life in the public eye as a trans woman in Starmer’s Britain, a deeply oppressive landscape, with most of the gags written in response to her usual detractors: the Rowling brigade, Ofcom complainants, and those who compare her loquaciousness, accent and garb to Essex(offend)er Russell Brand. She hammers the contradictions home in a manner that’s repetitive but by design; an illustration of her everyday fight.
Dressed cowboy-chic in celebration of her many battles won, Gray is like a rogue telling tall tales of how they ended up with a bounty on their head. The songs don’t leave the impression of having come as thick and fast as in her debut, but they’re just as accomplished and performed with characteristic aplomb. There are a few detours which also make the hour less tightly cohesive as its predecessor, but they’re worth it for the foray into teenage gothdom.
High noon comes as a genuine shock and gives the whole thing the opportunity to coalesce, with a string of callbacks paying off. At blackout, realisation strikes that that climax was written on the wall. To bleed the cowboy metaphor dry, Gray stylishly rides out her second rodeo. Last chance saloon, this ain’t.
Jordan Gray: Is That a C*ck in Your Pocket, or Are You Just Here to Kill Me?, Assembly George Square Gardens, until 24 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.05pm