Fatiha El-Ghorri, a rising star in standup comedy and a Taskmaster graduate, brings her touring show Cockney Stacking Doll to Leicester Square Theatre in London. The comic, a British Moroccan Muslim from Hackney, draws much of her comedic power from the contrast between her kindly appearance in a hijab and her gobby East End standup style.
A Tour of Her World
The show offers a tour of El-Ghorri's world: her divorces, online dating, family, and encounters on the buses and streets of London. She addresses all with a blunt lack of sentimentality and a robust sense of her own ridiculousness. El-Ghorri recalls growing up in Hackney, where she was mugged three times a day and learned how to handle herself.
Brutal Punchlines and Wit
Perhaps the show over-relies on brutal punchlines, with many gags concluding with threats like “you fink I’m playin’ wiv you, bruv?” or more violent alternatives. El-Ghorri defends this approach in her Ted Talk section, arguing that toughness was necessary for her to succeed where few like her are invited. Still, there is plenty of wit, including a choice description of Broadway Market as now all “kefir, lidos and polyamory.”
Structure and Memory Lapses
Cockney Stacking Doll lacks a discernible structure, feeling more like an hour of assorted jokes than a coherent show. El-Ghorri forgets her lines at one point and spends the final third counting down her remaining minutes, filling them with gags about her nieces and Bethnal Green’s low-rent McDonald’s. She has a persuasive excuse for the memory lapses: she recently underwent a forced menopause after cancer surgery. The trips to her gynaecologist are recreated in characteristically in-yer-face fashion.
Celebration of Resilience
The show celebrates El-Ghorri's journey to get here, confirming her as an earthy and endearing voice of the not-yet-wholly-gentrified East End. She delivers gags about her life and neighbourhood with choice descriptions and brutal punchlines, endearing herself to audiences with her honesty and resilience.
The tour continues until 17 December.
