Review: JORDAN GRAY: IS IT A BIRD?, London Palladium

Jordan Gray is having one hell of a year. Five-star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe for her Is It A Bird? led to a run at Soho Theatre, a controversial slot on the return of Channel 4's Friday Night Live and the chance to work on an ITV show with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

The musical comedian has barely had a chance to pause for breath which may explain her frenetic nature here, bouncing around the stage, calling out to friends and family members including her wife and parents, and generally loving the hell out of every moment; quite whether all the audience felt the same way throughout is debatable.

Her TV appearance last week has certainly set tongues wagging. After a song about her experience as a transwoman, Gray leapt up and stripped completely naked. Pink News called it "the most iconic LGBTQ+ moment on British TV in 2022". Queerly Radio hailed it as the "TV moment of the year". The apparently shocked host Ben Elton approved of Gray's "knob gag" and Harry Potter actor Jason Isaac suggested she become Prime Minister. On the flip side, author Helen Joyce labelled Gray's actions as "a sex crime" and "absolutely disgraceful" while the Daily Mail pointed out that 1,400 complaints had been sent to Ofcom, Gray had been dropped as a patron by a schools charity and tickets for the upcoming Palladium show were being sold at a two-thirds discount by a seat-filling website.

So where does Gray go from here? The auditorium was pleasantly full, though how many had paid full price and how many were here purely due to Gray's provocative telly antics was impossible to say. As well as calling out her family members, Gray noted that "half the TV industry are here tonight" suggesting that we were all there to help her audition for the next stage of her career, maybe a Netflix special or even - and more appropriately given the show's superhero framing - a spot in the MCU.

Despite the longer running time, the show was still recognisably the show that wowed Edinburgh this summer albeit with some extra standup and musical contributions. As shown amply in her songs and the show title, Gray is a fan of wordplay. Batman is a ripe target for Gray's ire as she wonders how Bruce Wayne can "identify as a bat" but people have troubled accepting her as a woman. Canines play a prominent role: as well as her usual bit about how bigots love dogs and offer them more love and respect than they generally extend to transfolk, she brings out the story about the pet wolf with amorous intentions - and then brings on the actual animal. Both sections are received well and are great showcases for her animated brand of comedy.

The way Gray treats those in the stalls can be frustrating. Her song "Celia C.", she tells us, will reveal a "surprise": the "surprise" turns out to be that she is (drum roll) suffering from coeliac disease and only eats gluten-free food. It's an amusing number with rich imagery but her berating of the audience - and their non-plussed reaction - when she tells them that the title was a huge clue to what the song was about is too harsh and too long; the old maxim about "if you have to explain the joke" holds true here. At another point, she notes that her wife is expectant before screaming down the applause, saying that the oestrogen pills Gray takes prevents them from having a child; lesbian parents may have been scratching their heads at that point.

Towards the end, Gray disappears into the stage's only major prop, a flimsy model of a telephone box, and emerges with only her stock-in-trade manic smile. The nudity has now lost much of whatever shock factor it had, especially after everyone and their parents have seen it on national TV and across the socials. Being bare is no longer rare, there's little in the way of style or substance about the unveiling of her unclothed body and there are entire cadres of Soho burlesquers who could finesse Gray's anti-climactic act of déshabillé. Furthermore, the abrupt nakedness doesn't push the show's narrative significantly further and only vaguely rises above the level of a cheap stunt.

No matter how much running around the almost-bare stage she does, there is a niggling feeling throughout that, in trying to entertain a venue of the Palladium's size, Is It A Bird? - and, by extension, Gray - have taken this ambitious step too soon.

Photo Credit: Damien Woodley

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