(Non) Violent Communication

A hilarious, satirical show with surprisingly helpful life lessons

(Non) Violent Communication

Actress and comedian Susan Earl shows off her brilliant talent in this ingenious one-woman show, which had the audience in fits of laughter from start to finish. Inspired by her recent divorce, Susan examines the nature of relationships, break-ups, the ridiculous expectations society imposes on all of us and the differences between Waitrose and Lidl. She manages to make serious topics incredibly amusing without trivialising them, which can be a very difficult line to walk, and her execution and comedic timing were spot on for almost the entire hour.

In between her musings Susan performs a few songs, accompanied by her ukelele, which were just as witty and sharp as her spoken observations and received with rapturous applause. Her reasonably basic ukelele playing and decent-but-not-spectacular voice just makes her more relatable, and compliments the honesty of the show, where she is nothing but herself. Well, apart from when she becomes different characters designed to expose how impossible it is for women to meet all of the expectations society has of them. These characters, whom she transforms into using basic but highly amusing costume changes and brilliant accents, are devilishly satirical without being over the top, and were adored by the audience.

My only criticism of this show would be that the last 20 minutes, in which she describes the 10 stages of a non-violent break up, goes on for slightly too long, and she flagged a little during this section. I think if she cut the show by ten minutes, made the final section more concise and increased the pace, it would be a near-perfect piece. I loved her humour but also the advice she managed to weave into her narrative, and I would recommend this show in a heartbeat to anyone who wants a good laugh.

Author

Sam Nead

Sam Nead Contributor

I am a 22 year old student who loves reading, writing and all things theatre-related. I am studying Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences at Birmingham University and I'm trying to write a novel, but not doing very well at it!

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1 Comments

  • Luke Taylor

    On 31 May 2017, 11:17 Luke Taylor Contributor commented:

    Yay! Comedy!

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