Katherine Ryan: Battleaxe review – comedy's ice queen melts into audience agony aunt

The Guardian

2 days ago

How would you like a ruthless cynic as an agony aunt? That's the question thrown up by this touring show from Katherine Ryan, which pairs 45 minutes of caustic standup with a second 45 of counselling to the crowd. You might protest that that adds up to less than an hour of new material in Battleaxe, plus a second act that's more improvised therapy session meets audience Q&A. But at least those three-quarters of an hour find Ryan on imperious form, dispensing tart put-downs of men in general and some men in particular.
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This ice queen of comedy pose is one Ryan wears lightly now, after a few years where it sometimes felt restrictive and for show. Then came her 2022 show Missus, which diluted (or enriched) the persona to address the Canadian's then-recent out-of-the-blue marriage. Battleaxe is a retrenchment after that more expansive offering, with Ryan back in her high-status comfort zone, eye-rolling at her children's foibles, breaching PC protocols for LOLs, and wrinkling her nose at the weaker sex. 'If dildos could bleed a radiator, men would be obsolete.' There's a fine routine on the contrasting ways male and female bodies husband their reproductive material, and many a weary remark at the expense of 'im indoors. See this masterpiece of double-edgery: 'I love my current husband so much so far.'
The Ryan we meet post-interval sits a little at odds to this act one badass, as she responds to problems volunteered by the crowd with even-handedness in place of cynical certainty. Fair enough: such is (in her own words) her duty of care, as she ministers to a man whose Lego habit his new wife refuses to tolerate, and a couple at odds about the appeal (or otherwise) of having a third child. But, in this touring show of two halves, the laughs in this crowdsourced comedy are milder than the short, sharp hit of concentrated Katherine that goes before.
Touring until 28 June