Your Choice Amanda Royce comedy review: A mayor with delusions
Rachel Twigg’s committed characterisation of an aspiring town official skewers political ambition while finding unexpected pathos beneath the bluster
Writing a political satire under the guise of character comedy is always a risky operation. It’s a tightrope walk of capturing something true and emotionally stirring while making laughs land for the right reasons. In Your Choice Amanda Royce, Rachel Twigg breathes life into the eponymous aspiring mayor, a ‘born, bred and dead’ Coulsdon resident desperate to make a change. From the moment the doors to her venue open, Twigg’s commitment to this character is unwavering. The intimate room warms to her as she teaches us call and response chants but recoils slightly when asked to yell ‘check his phone!’ to a ‘perv’ she’s identified in the front row.
From there, the truer notes of Royce’s character reveal themselves: commitments to befriending Polish and Romanian residents (she’s ‘fluent’ in both languages), ending poverty, and addressing unwanted potholes and ‘fat kids’ with one ingenious policy. Just as we begin to see through Royce’s overbearing confidence, the pathos strings are pulled with the introduction of her absent husband. It’s not enough to redeem our protagonist but it allows Twigg to showcase a more vulnerable side of Royce, a character who succeeds in holding up a mirror to power-hungry officials ignorant to the needs of the people they serve.
Your Choice Amanda Royce, Zoo Playground, until 23 August, 5.10pm.