Review by Steve Bennett

Writer, presenter and comic Viv Groskop is almost daring reviewers to call this a ‘sorry show’ – however unfair that would be – for it is an hour about apologising, inspired by the statistic that the average British person will apparently say sorry 1.9million times in their lifetime. And since Groskop is the very epitome of middle-class England, it’s a subject about which she should be well-placed to comment.

In the event, Say Sorry To The Lady is a bit of a hodgepodge, with good-natured, but relatively low-impact stand-up mixed with a hefty bit of audience interaction which hasn’t quite been thought through. Yet it works thanks to Groskop’s talents as a genial host, enticing the best out of the audience and topping them with her playful comebacks.

To kick off, her unusual surname prompts pondering about her ethnic background, raising questions of identity and offering a chance to showcase some of the accents she’s more than capable of. The theme of the show comes in via the first record she bought, Bacarra’s Sorry I’m A Lady, insidiously teaching her to be ashamed of her gender. And in later life, ‘say sorry to the lady,’ the instruction she has to issue to her own children more than once when their curiosity has offended a stranger on the bus. Then there are a few things she has to apologise for directly, such as the way she was rude to NHS staff while in maternity. So far, so-so. Groskop’s good company, and the content amuses, but never fully zings.

The conceit of the other half of the show is that we, the audience, are a Ministry passing judgment on apologies offered or demanded by our compadres, who anonymously opened their hearts via the postcards passed around before the show.

It’s a bit of a sketchy idea, not least because it’s not crystal-clear what we’re voting on: is it for absolution, for whether the victim of a misdeed deserves an apology, or merely on the sincerity of the apology. And second it places a lot on the shoulders of the three members of the audience chosen to be spokespunters – essentially requiring them to be ad hoc panel-show participants without the experience. Luckily they delivered tonight – even though the tipsy, troublemaking first Minister chosen was a close call, Groskop deftly handled his clumsy focus-pulling while keeping him on-side.

She’s generous chairwoman for these discussions, creating a fun and friendly atmosphere that draws out witty contributions, while adding a few well-placed ad-libbed quips of her own. And of course, the best of the cards completed by previous audiences provide laughs,too – so it’s a show that should only improve as she builds up a wider pool of these from which to draw

When she returns to the stand-up, she draws in the strands more neatly than you might expect, giving some context to the loose, engaging fun that’s gone so far, even if the closing song doesn’t rouse as much as she probably hoped. Nonetheless, you emerge from Stand 4 as if leaving an entertaining dinner party, and that was surely Groskop’s unapologetic aim.

Review date: 8 Aug 2015
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Stand 3 and 4