Looking around at the state of the world, it feels as though we could all do with a little more post-nut clarity about things. With the practiced self-assuredness of a stand-up with nearly 20 years in the game, Tiff Stevenson bases her new hour Post-Coital on this thesis. From political negotiations to personal self-assessments, aren’t we all a bit more straight-thinking after a good shag? It’s a topic which, paired with her magnetic stage presence, makes for a comfortable and light-hearted hour even when spinning laughs from such potentially heavy topics as a loved one’s ailing health or the sinister history of Scotland’s witch trials.
Amidst a set of lightly self-deprecating routines, broken up by incisive takes on gender politics and the occasional leap into madcap voice work, is a powerful reflection on the relationship between aging and the UK’s history of female persecution. It comes together in the final third, when the two topics coalesce around a passage from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. But by that point, the lead feels like it was somewhat buried between the sheets the whole time.
There’s a sense that, introduced earlier, it would have made the perfect book-end for the show’s themes: the tease that leaves you brimming throughout and leads to a stimulating, illuminating climax. Nevertheless, Stevenson’s show is a funny and moving one with a lot of heart. It might be missing some foreplay, but you’ll have lots to look back on after you’ve come.
Tiff Stevenson: Post-Coital, Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive), until 24 Aug, 2.50pm