Edinburgh Fringe
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Edinburgh Fringe 〰️
Image: Will Hearle
by Zoe Paskett
Pedro Leandro is ‘magnetic’ (The Guardian). If nothing else, he’ll always have that.
I think, though, this debut is going to bring in a good helping of the validation he craves. Pedro’s comedy is smooth, structured and sophisticated. He was made for the West End, but only the West’s most high-brow End. In Soft Animal, he leans into his identity as a “sit down gay”, joining the ranks of Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde – less about the club, more about the theatre. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a comedian angling so hard for a spot on the Donmar Warehouse stage, but if anyone was gonna get it…
As an adult, Pedro read Alan Downs’ The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World, and was shocked to see the things he felt as a kid so completely described by someone he’d never encountered. This book is the root of the show, as he looks at the impact of growing up with the uncertainty of whether he was going to be loved when everyone found out he was gay, and realises that his constant striving for success and validation might have something to do with it.
It is refreshing to hear someone so explicitly investigate their need for validation at Edinburgh Fringe, which is the, no offence, biggest validation fest around. (It’s not just performers – reviewers all do it too, even if they don’t want you to think they do! Are you gonna read what I’m writing? Validate my opinions? Please?)
Despite an assessment from an aromatherapist that he’s arrogant, there’s not an ounce of that. Self-assuredness, sure, and total confidence that he belongs on stage at the Donmar Warehouse. That’s what you want with a show like this – because there’s vulnerability in sharing anything about being a queer child, and this show gets right to the heart of that. Are we deserving of love? Will we get it? How do we show that we’re worthy of it so it doesn’t go away when we show people who we really are? You need a safe pair of hands. Pedro is that/those. And it’s this that allows him to navigate the wealth of surprises that can stem from one question to the audience.
While he has the capacity to be cutting in places – if you want to see someone spend the best part of eight minutes eviscerating one of the biggest names of musical theatre, this is for you – the show is primarily full of heart, and actually, you can’t help but agree with him on the musical thing, he makes a good point.
I do feel slightly that, as I heap on more praise, I’m enabling something that maybe I shouldn’t…but I can’t help but relate to the need and it makes me want to do it even more. Game recognises game, I guess.
Soft Animal is a fantastic debut – a debut that doesn’t feel like a debut. Timothy Sheader, take note. (And if you don’t know who that is, we are better than you.)
Pedro Leandro: Soft Animal is at Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker 2) at 20:10. Tickets here
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