Too Much

Too silly, too sexual, too loud – Angela Faith has been told she is ‘too much’ of a lot of things, and she brings them all to the ‘stadium’ stage of Gluttony in a late-night, adults-only show. Her energy is infectious from the moment she rides through the audience; she feeds off our energy to power her through this hour of stand-up, with occasional music, dance, and no-prisoners commentary on who really is ‘too much’.

Faith does well in a venue ill-suited to intimate conversation; she would work wonderfully in a smaller room, with audiences of any size. Her act builds and builds, but it’s so easy for that energy to escape into the air above us. Such is the price we pay for Covid-safe live entertainment.

Her breathless performance centres around two themes: ‘words are fun’ (a woman after my own heart); and a story of a childhood discovery, unashamedly drawn out with plenty of humorous asides. Faith paints a full, vibrant picture of her life experiences and attitudes, with a ‘Moira Rose’ penchant for song and dance.

She does get serious too: her observations on how men do most of the talking in the world is unsurprising, yet the numbers still startle; and her views on how to look at ‘too much’ from an alternative viewpoint challenged my perspective. I was disappointed there wasn’t more humour drawn from these.

Faith is rightfully unapologetic for who she is, and her frenzied raunch is a great nightcap after a night in Gluttony.

Mark Wickett

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