Emma Watson

Sat in the middle of the second row of a small arts centre with nobody sat in the seat in front of me, it wouldn’t have been unusual to feel on edge, exposed or even anxious at the thought of spending two hours sat eye to eye with the force that is Bridget Christie. But it may come as a surprise for you to hear that as an audience member, I have never felt more comfortable than when sat listening to Bridget perform her material.

Two slightly shortened sets were performed, Bridget’s 2013 show: A Bic For Her, and her latest one: An Ungrateful Woman. Both followed a similar theme (because, believe it or not, she hadn’t quite ran out of material on feminism just yet) and supported each other well, with well-informed subject-matter that never leaned towards feeling heavy or boring. Unknown to some, Bridget Christie’s shows haven’t always been so orientated around social change. In fact, in a recent episode of the Comedian’s Comedian podcast, she divulged that in her earlier years, she once dressed as a pea and sat on stage with just her head outside of a box, watching her audience be seated.

It is clear to me that this lady is afraid of very little and with this, she can do very much. She talked of her own personal triumphs that help deal with misogyny on a small, day-to-day level, involving a hilarious anecdote about magazine stands in supermarkets, but also interweaved material around issues surrounding suggestive advertising, FGM, Michael Gove, a certain snooker player and Beyoncé.

So, we know that this comic can do surreal as that’s what she’s done in the past, but these two shows were different: they were hard-hitting and informative yet still immensely enjoyable. There are still elements of the fantastical within her comedy, with energetic and preposterous slapstick routines that accurately portray what others have hinted are “things a female might do”. Packed to the brim with sarcasm and a slight hint of derailment, A Bic For Her and An Ungrateful Woman bring to the forefront how important feminism is in today’s society and remind us that there is no such as thing being satisfied with something as insane as one nation having “better” inequality than another.

With her assertive self-confidence and, dare I say it, actual proposed solutions (so you can stop your “raging feminist that just moans about everything” stuff now), I left Bridget’s show feeling assured that someone else, well, the woman herself, had the situation in hand.

You can see where Bridget Christie is on tour right now by visiting her website.

(And an additional side note, that I am sure you are all aware of: I encourage you to watch Emma Watson’s speech to the United Nations that she gave this week. It is inspirational in the same way that Bridget’s performance was for me.)