“Giraffe” is a semi-autobiographical comedy written by and starring Abigail Weinstock, a former Funny Women semi-finalist, that pokes its long, ruminating neck around the areas of masking, misconception and late-diagnosed autism.
Weinstock, 31, a south Londoner, who was runner-up in the 2017 Jewish comedian of the year awards, plays Eliana Goldstein, an anxiety-ridden gay Jewish woman still living in her childhood home.
Her world is jolted when she receives a “teeny, tiny temporary restraining order” for stalking her alluring, if rather up-herself, new neighbour Tabitha; and she faces a second court hearing to decide whether it should be made permanent. Cue an avalanche of angst from the gawky “5ft 10.5-inch” obsessive (who has not, it should be noted, stalked anyone in the real world).
Forced out of her home by the 50-metre exclusion zone around Tabitha, Eliana moves in with Suz – an old colleague of her stepmum – and her uncommunicative young daughter, Ava, with whom she forms an unspoken bond. Taking on multiple roles, including herself as a young girl bubble-wrapping herself up, attacking a fellow pupil-cum-cartoon-character and talking to a droopy-leaved olive tree (a reincarnation of her late mother), as well as the figures in her trial and those in her drama therapy group, Weinstock has a prodigious and engagingly ethereal imagination.
A past president of the Durham Review university sketch troupe, she’s more comfortable and witty with twittish upper-class accents and lingo than the Hebrew equivalent, which comes across as a bit laboured. Overall, though, it’s a commendably animated and keenly observed examination of growing up knowing that you’re different – a bit like a gangly giraffe – but not quite sure why.
The intense but warmly embracing 60-minute show is tautly directed by Emma Jude Harris, of the 2024 Scotsman Fringe First award-winning “Revenge: After the Levoyah”.
- Giraffe
Pleasance Courtyard (Cellar) - Until Aug 31 (not Aug 15 or 25)
