Some eight years ago (really? REALLY?) I saw Jenny Éclair’s one-woman show “Guide to Being a Middle Aged Woman Without Going Insane”. Back at Northern Stage this September, her new production, “Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir” is based on her latest book, a  hilariously candid, open hearted autobiography , and comes with a slide show from the family album. She makes no concessions to any celebrity cult of endless youth, looking comfortable in the rather larger size of M&S blouse, and wearing Crocs (though there’s definitely style in the fact that she has both a yellow AND an orange pair, and she does explain that if you  get caught short, widdling over your Crocs won’t do them much harm.) It’s all here, from a burning need to be seen to teenage sluttery, serious weight issues and whether the menopause is the best time of life to take up shoplifting. (Answer is apparently yes – you’ll have an excuse.) But while the frustrating ups and downs of any sort of show biz career are inevitably discussed (a whole new tour was lost because of Covid), self pity  doesn’t get a look-in during this frenetic, re-framing of a life viewed in comic terms. Sad bits of course, but peppered with outrageous observations about sibling rivalry, the tactful toilet training of grandchildren and the auto-erotic potential of banister rails. Something, in fact, that should strike a chord in every heart.

Gail-Nina Anderson