Review: Isy Suttie: Love Lost In The British Retail Industry – Durham Gala Theatre

Isy Suttie

If you like your comedy with a musical edge then look no further than Isy Suttie. It’s a one woman and her guitar type of show. She takes you through songs about trips to Ikea with your partner, a unique and dark version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ and an unlikely medieval love song about a Slovenian prince and English maiden – I don’t know where she gets these ideas either.

Her charm isn’t what she sings but how she sings it. Isy takes on numerous characters through the show and shows off her acting talent as well as her surprisingly hypnotic voice. She transforms from said Prince to English maiden in a blink of an eye, doing both voices and never tripping herself up – it’s quite a skill.

But this is all for starters – the real show is centered around Lisa and Carl and how they fell in love whilst working in a Supermarket. Again, singing her way through the story she captures the awkwardness that we are all too familiar when starting a relationship perfectly, making you intrigued as to how the two characters will play out. But this is not to say it takes away from the comedy aspect of the show as it is still very much about quirky ditties about M&S knickers and how Lisa wants to feel ‘Classy down there’ as well as a song about dancing in washing powder aisles – there really is nothing Isy won’t sing about.

But perhaps the most astonishing part of her act is the range of facial expressions she does to transform into these characters.  It’s slightly Jimmy Carrey-esque. Scrunching her face up to take on the form of Northern vegan butcher Carl, then pinging it back to be Lisa the slightly ditzy check out girl. It’s clear that this woman comes from an acting background; she’s wasted in Peep Show.

Love Lost in the British Retail Industry is a hilarious if not weird look at the trials and tribulations of love, and shows that you can find the man or woman or your dreams just about anywhere, even in a Somerfield’s supermarket.

Isy is a wonder to watch on stage, from her infectious smile, range of obscure faces and even her medieval dancing – it’s a treat.  One thing is for sure, she certainly struck the right chords on the night in more ways than one.

To compliment our review of Isy Suttie, we also conducted an interview with her. It can be read here.