Stefania Licari begins by telling the audience she’s Italian. But what does it mean to be Italian? A full explanation is given, because it leads to what it has traditionally meant to be an Italian woman – for her mother, grandmother, and generations before that, the general expectation was, to be blunt, that women should marry, stay at home, cook food and be baby machines. She veers off-topic from time to time, but always for comic effect: I’m still laughing as I write this review at Licari’s love for Germany, because Germany shouldered the blame for the Second World War in Europe, when really there wasn’t much, ideologically speaking, between Italian fascism and Nazism. Although I live in a country that seems obsessed with the Second World War, at least partly because it was on the winning side, it’s not something I’d thought about before.
Licari had become known among Fringe 2024 circles as ‘that lady who did her show outside’ after there was a power cut forcing the evacuation of some Fringe venues and the cancellation of some shows. Frankly, I wouldn’t have minded if that performance was reprised and we had stepped out into the Edinburgh breeze (I am reminded at every Fringe I attend how close the Scottish capital is to the sea) as the venue was uncomfortably warm. Anyway, there was some light-hearted material about what Italian men are like as opposed to British men (she moved from Italy to the UK, so no surprises for guessing which she prefers).
Two stories in particular highlight how far women’s rights have come, and yet how far there is still to go. The first was about running the MDS, or Marathon des Sables, a race covering 260 kilometres… in the Sahara Desert. It was not exactly easy. The second was an incident when she was the most senior person on duty in A&E. She did whatever was necessary to save the life of a young woman who was on the brink of death, only to discover that a complaint had been filed against her, not by the patient or any of her friends or relatives, but by a member of staff for a particularly vexatious reason. Suffice to say, it’s unlikely a similar complaint would be made against a man.
This show wasn’t feminist man-bashing. The women in the room agreed with Licari’s take on how uncomfortable wearing a bra can be, and there’s apparently no actual medical reason for wearing one. But the constraints the bra puts on a woman’s body is a (sort of) metaphor for the constraints society at large places on women. Licari is not in the kitchen, she’s on the standup circuit. She has a platform, literally and metaphorically, that women in previous generations of her lineage didn’t have, and she uses it to good effect. A thoughtful and inspiring comedy hour.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Following her hit show Medico, Stefania Licari returns with a brand-new stand-up hour. Drawing on her experience as an NHS doctor, first-generation migrant, comedian and sometime endurance runner, she explores the diverse roles of women in today’s world. From the operating theatre to the theatre stage, via an ultra-marathon through the Sahara, Stefania reflects on the big question: what are we running to and from? Multi award-winning Stefania sold out venues and earned rave reviews for Medico. Her follow-up promises to deliver her most personal, thought-provoking and side-splitting material yet.
STEFANIA LICARI: TRUST ME, I’M A COMEDIAN
Underbelly Bristo Square at the Edinburgh Fringe
31 July to 25 August 2024
Book Tickets for Edinburgh Playhouse and the King’s Theatre Glasgow.
