Luisa Omielan's What Would Beyoncé Do
The hook of Beyoncé as the archetypal powerful women that self determines how we should navigate the modern world is interesting but fatally flawed. Beyoncé is unknown and her songs are a money making machine, what actually is Beyoncé is a mirage.
Luisa Omielan clearly is a clever and articulate woman who is entirely empowered without this strange crowd pleasing device.
What was good
1, she demonstrated her key message within her stage character that she whilst she aspired to empowerment she was herself entirely disempowered.
2, it was quite brilliant how she straddled empowerment and the naked vulnerability of the human condition.
3, I loved how she demonstrated that empowerment is not in your hands alone and that life attacks you with daily catastrophe.
4, the audience identified with her character of a "normal, everyday" woman, when in fact this is very far from the truth.
5, her handling of pathos was masterful,
What was bad
1, she dumbed down her own message, We saw a similar misjudgement with Dawn French's 30 Million Minutes tour. Comedy must never be self-indulgent.
2, this did nothing for feminism and empowerment, in fact it was a major setback.
3, I didn't like the use of "shock" humour, inserted as a device, this is 2017 we are not shocked anymore by toilet humour or genitalia, it's just boring.
4, it was all a bit safe