All the characters are played with precision voice and attitude amendments
Everything about Wyld Woman: The Legend of the Shy Girl screamed Winner: the title, the quirky photos of the writer/performed and how it stormed the Edinburgh Fringe, writes Michael Holland.
There was a table set for four people on the stage, with the chairs pleading ‘Please Sit Here’ so the brave of heart could prove how not-shy they are.
There were a lot of Americans in the audience who could have been friends and family of the New Yorker, or part of the big management team behind Isabel Renner, the eponymous shy girl about to celebrate her birthday party in the New York flat she shares with Memphis, a raunchy woman who has lots of sex and is actually making love as we hear this news.
Little Girl Pink dominates a set that Renner uses to the max. The table becomes her gynaecologist’s table; the top of the fridge is where Shelley, the 6-year-old she babysits for, places herself while giving Renner therapy sessions, and centre stage is saved for the most wonderful depiction of a balletic blowjob I have seen on the black swan side of Swan Lake.
During the 65 minute performance we meet Patrice, her angry boss at the restaurant she works in; her trippy-trancey sex therapist, an English rock star, and work colleague Pinot, a nerdy guy who agrees to have sex with her. All characters that Isabel Renner plays with voice and attitude amendments that bring her sad tale to life and provides us respite from her annoying Shy Girl self, a young woman who we want to see succeed just a little at least once. What we get, however, is a series of upsets brought on by her inability to communicate and willingness to do absolutely anything to find a friend.
There are many moments of hilarity. Two of the people at the table were in tears most of the time, especially when they became face to face with Shy Girl while she did doggy with Pinot, plus other tender moments in their film-and-chill date night.
I think Renner hinted at her dad being in the audience, which added an even higher level of awkward glee to proceedings.
Yes, Wyld Woman has faults: how did she ever get past the job interview with Patrice? How does she manage to share a flat in New York? What mother would let her babysit? When will she stop being treated badly…?
But is it a Winner? Isabel Renner works hard while coming across as doing very little – We see the characters doing the heavy lifting, not the woman-child, which is clever acting. Wyld Woman was enjoyed by everyone there but enjoyed more by those who could see themselves in her, who could relate to those bad dates and, perhaps, her shyness…
Advice of the night, which echoed around the theatre: Shower your pussy with affirmation.
Southwark Playhouse until 15th November.
Booking and full details: https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/wyld-woman/
