The Stand Two

Until August 26

★★★

MAYBE it's the glasses, maybe it's the mannerisms, maybe it's something as simple as the shape of her face – but I can't help thinking Iszi Lawrence is like Emma Thompson cast as Sue Perkins.

Across this hour of material, her comedy proves to be clever and charismatic enough to stand in the company of both these funny ladies.

She'd probably classify herself as a middle-class, bisexual, Green-voting, dinosaur-fearing, crap-joke-loving atheist. Split that up, and you've got the subject matters of her show.

Episodes from her life are recounted in a way that draws in the audience without the embarrassment of forced participation, so everyone is on her side whether she's in confessional mode about wooing a female geography teacher, or observing Richard Dawkins walking his tiny dog.

The routine could do with a trim, but she's as adept with an anecdote as she is with a one-liner, and her trips down comedy asides are on-the-spot funny.

Alan Morrison