Lara Ricote review: Bizarre, brilliant, bursting with talent
Image: Wesley Verhoeve
by Zoe Paskett
As anybody who sees Lara Ricote’s latest show will come to learn, there is only one thing that really matters in a relationship.
The thing is balance. And this makes a comedian’s relationship with their audience a weird one. One side holds all the cards, while the other mainly shrinks into the shadows hoping to avoid conflict. One seeks approval through laughter, while the other hasn’t always chosen to be there. One does all the talking, while the other sits and listens (actually that can sometimes work).
Having won all the things for her debut show and made plenty of TV appearances in the meantime, it’s so great to see Lara back on the stage. She has a fizzy energy that never goes flat and that indescribable and unteachable knack of releasing ease into the whole room. Which is good because, within minutes of starting ‘Little Tiny Wet Show (baptism)’, we are in a relationship.
Rebirthed as one entity and renamed, the audience (now called Copawu, chosen by randomly shouting out letters) gets a masterclass on how to be in an adult relationship from someone who apparently doesn’t know how to be in one. In her long white christening gown/Victorian nightdress, she has a kind of charismatic cult leader thing going on, alarmingly backed by the gravestones of her past audiences, just subtly making sure we know there’s a sell-by date on our time together.
While Lara’s first show GRL/LATINX/DEF was the requisite introduction, a brilliant insight into her intersecting identities and worries about the climate crisis that garnered her the recognition she so deserved, this second hour leans far more strongly into the winsome weirdness of her personality.
It centres around her relationship with her partner, their life together (sometimes) in the Netherlands, and grappling with the probability that this will be the first and last relationship of her life. With stand-out moments coming in their nearly managing to adopt a dog, starting couples therapy and the simple, beautiful delivery of the line, “I have lyme disease”, the show is a great vehicle for both her storytelling and physical comedy abilities.
She’s delightfully resolute in her unwillingness to indulge the audience’s desire for the soul-bearing “connection” that many stand-up shows will provide, teasing us by almost revealing vulnerability then snatching it away in the most bizarre way possible. But far from being disappointing, she satisfies a much deeper want.
Because, as clueless as she claims to be in her clearly very loving romantic relationship, Lara knows exactly what this one needs. She nails the seamless audience interaction, and the simple fact of it is that rarely a second went by when I wasn’t laughing. I didn’t sit there craving her vulnerability, because I was too preoccupied with anticipation of what wild statement was coming next. She finds it hard not to laugh during unguarded moments? Fine by me! Do the bit about having beads for doors!
It’s a wonderful follow up to an equally wonderful first show, and proof of my initial suspicion that she’s bursting both with talent and things to say and will go on sharing them for a long, long time.
Though for Copawu (and the other audiences whose names are littered across the stage), that time is over. Anyway, not every relationship needs to last forever, does it? Even short relationships can be meaningful, right? It might not be perfect but it was real? I suppose now Copawu must come to terms with the fact that Lara did most of the heavy lifting in this partnership, and try to move on.
But if all you’ve got with Lara is an hour, she’ll make sure you squeeze every inch of joy out of it.
Lara Ricote: Little Tiny Wet Show (baptism) is at the Soho Theatre until March 2nd. Tickets here.
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