REVIEW: ‘Stop Trying To Look At My …’ at Canal Café Theatre 13 May – 1 June 2024

‘A cocky performance displaying heart and personality’ ★★★

This autobiographical dark comedy written and performed by Jacob Grunberger uses anecdotes, rap and physical movement to convey some rather painful childhood memories, from the perspective of his older self. 

It’s a tale of losing his Jewish father as a young boy, a peripatetic childhood taking him from Scotland to Essex, and further family troubles which leaves him in a state boarding school. Thereafter drug related and mental health problems follow. The show starts off very strongly with Grunberger giving a kind of stand-up commentary, engagingly and with a sense of irony, it’s very funny whilst not losing the pathos of his situation. He’s a cocky lad (note the original title of the play was ‘Stop Trying to Look at My D**k’). There’s always the sense that he’s a fighter who is hurting inside. This seems a decent place for a comedy act which is situation based to develop,  with heart and personality.

However, the show changes direction to include some rap, also engaging and relevant, then later some more rap, then some physical work. It begins to seem that he’s run out of material. Where the beginning had the audience laughing one moment and full of sympathy another, towards the end of the piece this good vibe began to fizzle out.

It’s easy to think that an autobiographical show could be too self-absorbed, especially when the subject is very young, almost to the point of it being a way for him to work through some issues in a public space. Nevertheless, the earlier part of the show, was full of promise, and pain, and it makes good theatre.   It’s also easy to see that the performer is ripped, and showing off his fine physique would seem to fit with the show, but it just isn’t very interesting, and completely loses the comedy element. It’s for the performer to work out how to use this part of the show more effectively. It simply isn’t quite there yet.

Overall, the comedy, the vulnerability come across well, but the occasional ‘sorry for himself’ attitude might leave the audience cold, which is a pity, because it’s so important to take them on the journey and to keep their support for an overall longer term audience following.  

REVIEW: ‘Stop Trying To Look At My ... ’ at Canal Café Theatre 13 May – 1 June 2024

Box Office https://canalcafetheatre.com/our-shows/dk/

Written and Performed by Jacob Grunberger

Directed by Noel Wallace

Reviewed by Heather Jeffery