Halley Metcalfe’s new show My Two Cents is a personal story about her Grandma.
The show is introduced by two sixteen year olds, Sam and Michael who between them are the Ukulele Brothers. The boys start with an intro song which has deliberately got the sense of what the show is all about wrong. Add this to some vaguely insulting lines about Halley which bring Halley onto the stage to shoo them off and this opening really works well, getting the audience laughing before the show proper begins.
Halley takes to her task with a eloquent ease and shows herself to be more confident in this role than in the past. This show is couched around a central story which tells of the nineteen year old Halley who moves in with her grandma. Her vocal impersonation of her gran is great and really adds to the story, especially when she breaks into a version of her grandma singing a rap.
Much of the material Halley touches on covers well traversed ground on the subject of intergenerational difference. She doesn’t really bring anything new when she tells us that old people are racist/homophobic or old people smell. However her story does shine when she illustrates these points with specific moments and quotes from her grandma, as these moments transcend the cliche and create a multifaceted portrait of her gran.
The show is broken up in two more places by the Ukulele Brothers, but, although gently amusing, their later songs don’t live up to the quality of the opening. Their youth and inexperience, one imagines, are responsible for the fairly clichéd, formulaic approach they take with their material. They also join Halley onstage for the finale number. This ending ties up the show fairly neatly without reaching any great heights.
Overall this is an enjoyable enough show with some fun chuckles throughout and a handful of really well landed laughs.
For more info and booking details go to Halley Metcalfe in My Two Cents