It’s funny how things in life work out sometimes right? It was on one of our bi-yearly family trips to Florida where I was scrolling through the on-flight entertainment guide when I first discovered the BBC-produced situational comedy Miranda and I could not wait to tell the rest of my family about this new equally hilarious and relatable comedy show only to find that they too had individually watched the same show and thought we would each love it. This is where our love of the show began and since then we made sure to watch every episode/special to the point where we now own the entire collection on DVD. We were obviously devastated when the show came to an end almost ten years ago but our love of the comedian did not end there so when we discovered that Miranda Hart would be doing an intimate evening discussing her newest book in London we knew that we had to make sure to be there! On top of this event is an opportunity to see some of our favourite performers on stage, Miranda and her team made sure to make the audience feel an important part of this evening as they provided every single person in attendance with a free signed copy of book (which this event was obviously created to promote) and also a corresponding Spotify playlist that not only connected the book with the event itself but also allowed the audience to keep a piece of the event with them wherever they go!
Taking place in the wonderfully glamorous Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London (which we most recently visited to see Frozen: The Musical which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2022/11/01/frozen-production-review/), we boarded the Megabus that cold Saturday morning and embarked on an unusually long (through one’s fault in particular) journey to London to watch one of our favourite comedians talk about their newest book. I have to be honest we went into this event thinking it would be a laughter-filled evening discussing Miranda’s rise to fame and particularly the creation of the hit TV show however we were really surprised when this event took a much more honest, heart-helt conversation about dealing with chronic illness. For those who are not aware, Miranda has taken a mysterious hiatus recently from the limelight and it turns out that this was due to dealing with the long-term effects of dealing with Lyme disease. The star’s newest book is titled “I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You” and this event itself started with Miranda talking about a terrifying moment of collapsing in her living room and the long-suffering fatigue but not being able to label what exactly her body was going through. This, justifiably so, led to a journey through isolation and separation from not just showbiz but also her friends themselves (but more on that later) and made her sit back to analyse what makes her a person outside of the comedic persona the audience has seen over the past couple of years which led to a very powerful discussion between Miranda and her co-host about the fundamental masking that happens when you are a beloved comedian/performer. Despite not having experienced the same journey that Miranda has most recently been on, I can totally understand this concept with my only limited experience of being on stage and having to leave whatever behind the scenes at the door and present yourself a certain way (which you can read about during my review of the unique play “Tiger Face” which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2024/05/14/tiger-face-production-review/)
If you are a fan of the aforementioned Miranda TV series, you will be familiar with the eccentric boarding school buddy Tilly (played brilliantly by the incredibly talented Sally Phillips) who is known for her unique way of speaking and particularly her catchphrase “bear with…” which is something me and my family still quote at least once a week! It was this motto that was used at the beginning of the in conversation with Miranda Hart event to reveal that Sally would be the co-host of the event which I personally thought was the perfect choice! It is clear that not only is Sally a good friend of Miranda outside of the show with a plethora of personal stories including one particularly poignant moment in the evening where Sally talked about being disappointed that MIranada felt like she was not able to reach out to her during her periods of isolation and struggles. While many may view this as a somewhat selfish viewpoint, it is something that we have or will experience at some point in our lives. As Miranda’s close friend was not fully aware of what the star was going through it can very easily come across as a friend just creating distance between the two of them which led to Miranda opening up about how this moment of sadness really opened her eyes to how important connections with friends truly is! While on the top of friendship, there was a moment during the second act of the show where Miranda and Sally made sure to record an encouraging message from their mutual friend/co-star Sarah Hadland who could not be in attendance tonight due to taking part in this season of Strictly Come Dancing. This again shows how valuable friends are to Miranda as she used a section of her show to support a friend of hers who is also going through a very intense experience. On top of being close friends, it is also clear that Sally is a highly educated individual who had clearly done her research for this event as she not only was able to deep-dive into moments within the book and add in their own experiences and research to give the evening a deeper undertone of a physiological nature which as mentioned earlier, was not what we were expecting from an evening with one of Britain’s most established comedians.
The second half of the evening was handed over to the audience who could submit questions which Miranda would then respond to live on stage. This sequence began with Miranda talking about the recent announcement that she had met someone during her chronic illness journey and was now in fact married. While this story was revealed a few days ago on the Graham Norton Show but the audience at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane where treated to a much more in-depth discussion about how the couple met, got to know each other and the wedding event itself. While there was a plethora of questions surrounding dealing with chronic illness and reaching out to friends when you need help which was very emotionally driven and powerful, one of the more unique sequences saw Miranada hilarious talk about her favourite fart noises where she demonstrated a fart she recently heard from a random dog but also discussed the production meeting while working on her TV show of auditioning fart noises for the iconic moment in her TV show where she farted in front of an Osteopath which obviously played on the idea of nostalgia with the audience thinking about the time before Miranda went through her health scare. This sequence of questions did come to a sudden end as the pair realised that they were out of time which again demonstrated the fact that these two are very good friends who enjoy chatting to one another as they lost track of time chatting to each other and the audience.
Overall, while this event was clearly designed as a way of promoting the star’s newest book it did not feel like one of those forced adverts (despite the hilarious nods to the story throughout) where that is all the performer talks about. We went into this event thinking it would be a comedic look at Miranda’s rise to fame and while this was discussed it felt more akin to an honest and real discussion around something many people experience throughout their lives which allowed the audience to get to know the artist behind one of the BBC’s most successful shows in a real and heartfelt way. Having the two friends talk about this real-world experience obviously allowed for ample opportunities for hilarious moments throughout, it also allowed for honest conversations which had the audience close to tears throughout the evening. I would rate this 5 out of 5 stars!
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