Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image Image
Scroll to top

Top

No Comments

Jem Brookes: Pull Yourself Together 3*** - One4Review

Jem Brookes: Pull Yourself Together 3***

| On 11, Aug 2017

Jem Brookes is a lovely man, and this year’s show he describes as no-holds-barred and brutal. In many ways, it is, but that doesn’t stop it being funny. At one point, I cried, but at many points, I also laughed hard.

The show is Brookes talking about his recovery from, and probable causes of depression, from childhood bereavement to difficulty finding the right career path. So this is depression not in the “feeling a bit sad” sense, but in the deepest, darkest, sense – is suicide avoided because you just can’t get out of bed. Yep, cheery themes.

But, like many people with mental health issues, at his better times, he can well and truly see the funny side, and he successfully shares that humour with an audience. I would like to assure him that mental health support is a little better these days than it was at the times he talks about – but as he comments, it is a long way from equal treatment with physical issues.

So a good show, almost certainly better with a bigger crowd, as it was a small number in a cozy room that day, but Brookes will do better with a bigger crowd to bounce off – and truly deserves better.

***
Reviewed by Gill
Laughing Horse @ the Free Sisters
16.55-17.55
Until 27th

Submit a Comment