Jade The Folk Singer – Original Review
Note: This review is from 2007
Review by Steve Bennett
The creation of Australian character comedian Sarah Adams, Jade The Folk Singer sends up an easy-to-mock archetype: the naïvely earnest, dippy hippy feminist trying to save the world thought acoustic guitar, whalesong and tie-dyed tofu.However, Davies makes this more than a two-dimensional caricature by giving Jade a detailed back-story. In the between-song banter we learn how she turned to a lesbian commune for support and a new sexuality after she caught her bloke in a compromising position with her mum, and isn’t yet entirely comfortable in her new sexuality.
This allows her set to work on several layers, one moment subtly picking at her weak character’s manifold insecurities, the next leading a singalong of the most filthy of songs.
Generally, comics who find easy sanctuary in the crude knob gag or use jaunty melodies to prop up their material are not to be celebrated. Jade does both, yet with enough charm and subtly not to offend. Or at least on the grounds of artistry, the material remains, in the words of the intern decidedly ‘not safe for work’.
But in a comedy club, she’s got the spirit to raise the energy, and the material to raise a laugh, which makes her one funny folker.
Review date: 29 Oct 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
