Have you ever thought of rehearsing your birthday party in order to remove agonising social anxiety? If you are shy, like Isabel Renner, the author and performer of this seventy-minute, one-person play, you might well have done! Only in this case, you have invited an audience to watch you!
In this mildly amusing, entertaining, undemanding piece of the theatre we are presented with a pink room, decorated with pink balloons and meet ‘Shy Girl’ who, being an American from NYC, has to tell us about her six-year-old therapist, whom she babysits, her hottie roommate Memphis, who is supposedly having sex as the play starts, sex guru Twilight and a British Rockstar. In fact, Renner says that she “wrote Wyld Woman in an attempt to face my deep shame of feeling like the shyest girl in the entire world“.
As the audience enters the performance space, each member is asked to write their name on a sticky label and display it, and during the show ‘Shy Girl’ often breaks the fourth wall and speaks to someone by name – but only if one is near the front as otherwise it is too dark for her to see it, so only a few get mentioned! The first half starts rather slowly, and it is not really until (spoiler alert) the ‘blow job ballet’ that the piece fully comes alive and is, at times, very funny. Renner is clearly a dancer, and this particular sequence has grace, humour and poignancy. After this, although there are amusing moments, the play winds down, its main weakness being not that it is not funny enough, as it is nearly always interesting, but that it is a very shallow dig into being ‘shy’ and does not even begin to look at the reasons for this, either in this particular case or much more widely, which is an opportunity missed as surely most of us suffer from being shy at some time or another.
Renner is an able performer, but the ‘shy’ voice does get a tad wearisome after a while, and her enunciation is not always as clear as it might be, perhaps because of over-familiarity with her own script?
However, it is good to see that imagination and money have been spent on this production as Lucy Fowler’s set is as detailed as it is possible to be, and Catja Hamilton’s lighting design is inventive yet subtle, adding much-needed variety to Jenner’s writing.
Wyld Woman (and I won’t add another spoiler by explaining this!): The Legend of Shy Girl makes for a relaxing, enjoyable, comfortable evening at the theatre and I am glad to have seen it. Recommended!
Review by John Groves
If you’ve ever freaked out before a party or overthought a text message – this one’s for you.
Wyld Woman: The Legend of Shy Girl is a fast-paced, sidesplittingly funny, raunchy yet heartfelt show about shyness, longing, and the desire to feel worthy of love.
A love letter to anyone who has ever felt too shy, too weird, or too much.
Written and performed by Isabel Renner
Developed with and directed by Cameron King
Lucy Fowler – Set and Costume Designer
Catja Hamilton – Lighting Designer
Sasha Howe – Sound Designer
Catherine Schreiber presents
WYLD WOMAN: THE LEGEND OF SHY GIRL
Southwark Playhouse Borough
23 October to 15 November 2025
