Dillie Keane
Songs My Mother Would Have Hated
The Pheasantry, London, UK, March 25, 2023
Reviewed by Gavin Brock
Dillie Keane
Dillie Keane, the peerlessly witty songwriter and raconteur (and one third of 40-year-long-running satirical trio Fascinating Aida) returned to The Pheasantry for a three-night engagement, performing her new one-woman show, Songs My Mother Would Have Hated.
As one might anticipate, the show paid as much tribute to the performer’s disapproving mother as to the very sort of musical offerings of which she would disapprove. And, yes, there may have been some dry-humping of a piano while lamenting the difficulties of middle-aged sex in the hilarious “This Ain’t The Hokey Cokey Anymore.” And perhaps there was a shade of Mae West in the seductress enquiring, “How Do You Like Your Eggs?”
But, far more than the debauched obscenity on display (did I mention the jaunty duet with accompaniment Michael Roulston extolling the virtues of lesbianism?), it was ultimately Dillie’s wry honesty that shined through in each of the richly drawn characters presented. As she cautioned early on that whereas Fascinating Aida famously takes satirical aim at political targets, Dillie Keane (solo) is obsessed with love in all its varied and messy forms.
From the eccentric auntie offering advice on what to look for in a partner (“Find Someone Who Can Stand You”), to the heartbroken divorcee selling her former partner’s belongings on the side of the road (“Everything Must Go”), the evening boasted a treasury of beautifully-written standalone musical playlets, some exhumed from the songwriter’s own proverbial trunk and others adopted from other composers, but all delivered with an acute observation of the human condition and a poker-faced wit.
With the effortless sophistication of a master and the gusto of a newcomer, Dillie’s passion for performance was as contagious as ever and showed no sign of abating. Even if her mother would have hated them, the audience (help rapt throughout) were in no doubt grateful to experience such a wonderful compendium of hidden gems, delivered here by an undisputed master of her craft.
