CAITLIN MORAN | LIVE REVIEW
St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Thurs 16 April
Entering the stage from a side door with a clutch of papers and a smart phone, Caitlin Moran kicked off her How To Build A Girl show by reading a selection of tweets sent in by the audience. Having missed Cardiff on the previous tour, the crowd were visibly excited to see her, though I suspect that the free books and the fancy dress photo booth in the foyer helped add to buzz.
Seconds into the show, Caitlin set the tone of the evening by reading ‘How To Be A Feminist’ – a passage from her bestselling book How To Be A Woman. Asking for the house lights to be turned back on, the audience were instructed to rise to their feet, put their hands in the air and declared ‘I am a feminist’.
With that important declaration of solidarity out of the way, Moran embarked on a raucous set covering everything from menstrual mishaps to female masturbation and that controversial beauty trend, thigh gaps. Moving effortlessly from hilariously cringey anecdotes (including why she will never be Mrs Cumberbatch), to serious social commentary, Moran had the audience captivated, inspiring bursts of spontaneous applause from the 1,200 strong crowd. Though the majority of the audience were female, there were a refreshing number of men and Moran did well to welcome them into the fold. After all, regardless of gender, the audience were all there to smash the patriarchy together.
Moran certainly practices what she preaches, ending the show on a display of body confidence in which she hitched up her top and exposed her belly, showing us her best feminist smile.
At the climax of the show, Caitlin announced that she is retiring from live performances, inspiring a standing ovation. As the audience filtered out, I couldn’t help but feel buoyant that this collection of people were united in the pursuit for equality, fighting for the feminist revolution together.
words ELLEN DAVIES