Fiona McDonald

Rosalie Minnitt’s ‘Clementine’ plays on the very real period drama hype created by the likes of ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Downton Abbey’. But this story is slightly different. Offering a modern approach to a Regency tale of a woman looking for love, Minnitt’s quick-fired jokes are fit for a Gen-Z audience and rarely miss the mark.  The story follows 26-year-old Lady Clementine, who has until her 27th birthday to find a suitor or else she will be sent away to an asylum. The catch is, of course, that her birthday is tomorrow. Conveniently, the event of the season – the Bellby Ball – lands on the evening before her birthday.  Minnitt maintains an impressive level of energy throughout the hour, delivering gag after gag. But Clementine is in control of the story – hilariously directing the winding tale to ensure we are never lost and leading audience participation in a way that really does work (for example when crowd members are given battery-powered candles and other props to set the scene). The stage is armed with a projector broadcasting images of Edwardian-era women and shorts from period drama films while viral TikTok sounds play over the top (the memeified ‘I am 27 years old’ line from the 2005 ‘Pride and Prejudice’ sets the mood early on). Jo March’s renowned monologue from Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ is heard later. As a whole, Clementine’s commentary on the patriarchal expectation that women must find a husband offers an alternative to the classic storyline: self-love. Hilari

Stand-up superwoman Jordan Gray grew up in what she calls dark Essex – ‘deep, dark Thurrock, Grays, Stanford and Tilbury’ – and moved to Southend six years ago, a classic seaside city with a renowned pleasure pier and seven-mile-long coastline. ‘It’s 45 minutes on a train from London, but with the ocean at your door’, she says. ‘So, it’s impossible to feel claustrophobic.’ Jordan performed at the opening gala of at this year’s first-ever Roundhouse Comedy Festival, which according to her, ‘has a solid lineup of top-tier comedy,’ with appearances from the likes of Sophie Duker, James Acaster and Katherine Ryan. Here, Jordan tells us about her favourite plays to eat, see, and have fun in Southend – just in time for the last weeks of summer.  Eat ‘I had my wedding party above the Ask Italian in Southend. We weren’t going to do anything and then a friend of ours also had their reception upstairs. My partner’s picky about food, so it was either we don’t have a reception or we have it at an Italian chain restaurant. But the staff were so wonderful and it was really sweet. And it was such good food: just consistently good food.’ Do ‘Little Smash Comedy is an open mic comedy night at The Alex pub in Southend (it’s also at the Temple Café and the Shoeburyness Hotel). I tried out my show there that I’m touring this year, which I took to the Edinburgh Fringe. The night is run by a guy called Ross McGrane and some of the best people in the country right now will perform, as well as peopl