- Aug 23, 2023
- 2 min read

Esther Manito is angry and on tour; our review of her show "Hell Hath No Fury"

It's fair to say that we're comedy scarred. A friend did a course some years ago, and we dutifully supported her and the monthly comedy club which she established. We endured some truly awful comedians, the worst night included an argument between 2 of them with one hoping that the other one 'died'. So, any invitation to be in the audience for stand-up is something that we're pretty cautious about accepting. But there was something about this one that appealed, Esther Manito sounded very relatable; a fraught working mother of a certain age (where women become invisible) in what is still a man's world.

A woman snarling — Esther Manito: Hell Hath No fury. Photo credit Karla Gowlett

We caught Esther at Soho Theatre, which is a great place for a fun evening, both for the act and the audience. It set the scene for Esther to tell us some funny tales of performing to hen and stage parties in less welcoming venues, and with less welcoming audiences.

Her routine is fast paced, passionate and engaging, with some recurring running jokes throughout. Her Arab Essex heritage is played upon to great effect. The parts about Esther's 75-year old father, who lives with her, mixing up his English idioms were my favourite parts of the act as they were both charming and funny. We had to agree with her that many of the newly mangled idioms were much better than the originals.

Observational comedy is often the funniest, and Esther manages to weave her observations into her gender inequality theme with great skill. Jokes about West Ham supporters, and failed chat up lines landed brilliantly (what man would think that a trip to Legoland would be a woman's dream date?!) Invisibility, the pressures on today's mothers, and medical opinion landing every ailment at the door of menopause rang true.

But the tipping point comes with the coat stand. To find out why, you'll need to catch her on tour.

Esther is angry, and more of us should be too.