This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

From the moment Gillian Cosgriff took the stage, we – the sold-out, opening-night audience packed in elbow-to-elbow – were in the palm of her hand. This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things is Cosgriff’s second solo show (after last year’s Waitressing … and other things I do well), but at just 26 she already has the assurance and polish of a seasoned performer, combined with disarmingly dorky charisma, a fresh, contemporary sense of humour, and a firm grasp of traditional cabaret tropes.  

Cosgriff strings together a series of otherwise unconnected songs with sparkling bursts of stand-up that connect each song to the show’s title, giving the whole a sense of cohesion. The songs are original and clever, her wordplay adept, her singing voice supple and rich. She is offhandedly brilliant on her electric keyboard, taking on a range of styles from the jaunty jazz of fable ‘The Vegan and the Beekeeper’ to the Sondheim-esque minor chords of bittersweet ‘Letter to 16-Year-Old Gillian’, and rap-like rhythms of ‘Four Years’, in which she lists all the life goals she needs to achieve by her 30th birthday.

At times she descends into slightly off-putting bitchiness, as in ‘Letter…’ when she expresses satisfaction at her old schoolfriends getting fat, or the song in which she mercilessly mocks a sweet-but-thick ex-boyfriend’s spelling and ‘pronounciation’. However, she is also upfront about her own flaws, widening her sea-green eyes and declaring, ‘This is why I can’t have nice things; I’m a terrible person.’

Cosgriff is the main target of her own wit – her procrastination, fashion blunders, inept personal grooming and drunken voicemail messages. This inward focus, however self-deprecating, can sometimes come across as narcissism, but as she collects more experience and matures as a performer, her material will no doubt gain greater depth and breadth. With such a surfeit of talent and charm, Cosgriff is bound to have a long and successful career, and it will be exhilarating to watch her act develop. In the meantime, while This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things might not be the most profound show you’ll see in this year’s Fringe, it’s probably one of the most fun.  

Rating: 4 stars out of 5