“Bitches in stitches”

Arie David is playing an NHS nurse who is saying how much the applause she got from her neighbours meant to her when she made it home during the Covid lockdowns. There is a well-judged pause and then she confides it always made her feel a fraud as “saving lives” was scarcely the measure of success where she was then working. She was attached to the local hospital’s abortion clinic.

Questionable taste, maybe, but the capacity audience at the Hoxton Cabin, north London, dissolves into laughter and I am struck, looking around the room, how there is scarcely a soul over 30.

In the West End theatres where I normally review, the question is often asked where the young audiences have gone and I can reply that a lot of them are now going to comedy clubs like this one which are significantly cheaper and clearly more on their wavelength.

The late Rex Harrison used to say that comedy is a damned serious business, and David and her fellow “Bitches in Stitches” performers on the bill – they include the compere Fran Ayala-Rock, Aalex Mandel-Dallal, Laura Moss and the superb closing act Kate Cheka – know that only too well. Their sets have been honed over countless gigs on the fiercely competitive national comedy club circuit and it’s one of the principal feeder routes to the mainstream television shows and stardom.

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Is it really about acting? Is this really a place for a theatre critic? Yes and yes and only a snob could possibly ask either question. The punters and the acts are politically aware and angry at the state of the world – David says that looking very young she genuinely doesn’t want to rise to the top of any organisation as that would inevitably involve hanging out with paedophiles – and there’s arguably something very therapeutic about their comedy.

If they make it to the big time – and I suspect a lot of them will – they will inevitably have to tone it down, and maybe become a lot less funny in the process. My advice, irrespective of your age, is to give the comedy clubs around the country a chance. There’s something uniquely thrilling about seeing great performers starting out and playing a part in the selection of the next generation of stars.

bitchesinstitchesldn are next scheduled to appear at the Hoxton Cabin on March 13 and April 1.