REVIEW | Stimmicanto, Barons Court Theatre
Written by Bronagh
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Stimmicanto – ‘stimming’ and ‘encanto’ cleverly combined - is a comedy show written and performed by Paggy Gacheva, We are promised an hour of ‘autistic joy’, which certainly is delivered but not always consistently.
Stimmicanto is an hour long with no interval, packing in a lot in this time and at a quick pace. There were moments where I felt like I was scrambling to keep up and ‘get’ the joke. Audiences are guided through the topics but it does feel like it is lacking in focus. I understand the brain working at a million miles an hour and the struggle to focus, but this doesn’t always translate brilliantly to a stage. I didn’t feel completely entertained all of the way through, finding there were lulls which I very slightly struggled through. I really think this would translate well to short YouTube videos, casting my millennial mind back to when this sort of medium was at a high and due a come back in my opinion!
When it’s funny, it’s funny. Paggy is a talented performer, great at ad-libbing and a master at making audience participation anything but awkward. The phrase audience participation sends shivers down my spine, and this being touched upon in the pre-show announcement was no different. However, there was truly zero awkwardness or embarrassment, and no forced participation. The ‘what is a good name for a therapist’ skit is where the audience participation comes in to play, and where Paggy excels. Paggy engages members of the audience here and is actually really quite funny with Paggy explaining why the names suggested are not good names for a therapist. Stimmicanto is certainly on the nice and good-natured side of standup comedy shows which is very refreshing!
I don’t even need to say this, but representation is so important on stage. Bringing neurodiversity to the stage is a positive move, with Stimmicanto genuinely feeling like a journey through Paggy’s mind. Paggy has conversations with her brain, poking fun at neurodiversity in a way that likely does ring true to neurodiverse people. A good example is where she tells her brain that she is feeling perky, so to bring on the ‘spicy autism’, as opposed to ‘mild’. This was funny and well done, and hopefully welcoming to neurodivergent audiences.
Barons Court Theatre is a lovely space, which I’ve been to four times now and every time it feels so different. Stimmicanto was no different, and certainly gave off comedy club vibes. The set was very simple, almost non-existent really, making use of the back wall to project various street name memes created by Paggy and a variation of Paul Rudd pictures. These are moments were Paggy was very entertaining with just about all of the memes being laugh out loud funny.
Overall Stimmicanto was good and certainly entertaining in parts, with a wonderfully funny performer in Paggy. However, I felt it was a lot to digest in the space of an hour without feeling rushed.
At Barons Court Theatre until 4th February 2024.
☆ ☆ ☆
