‘Medico’ At The Museum Of Comedy Review

Reviewed by Beth Cowan

As a comedy actor myself I was very excited to visit this venue. The Museum of Comedy is very close to Oxford street so you can go for a nice shopping trip beforehand if you wanna make a day of it. The Venue is intimate with a casual and quirky vibe, lots of history about famous comedians, mainly the legendary Tommy Cooper. I really enjoyed the Drinks were a little overpriced and not a huge range, but it is a very small bar as the theatre itself must’ve only sat about 50 people. The stage was very small. The seating is chairs spread out so I found it hard to see, if you are anything past the 3rd row your view will be restricted- but I did enjoy the intimate relaxed vibe, it made things feel less serious and pressuring, as lot of people can find intimidating about other theatres. The show ‘Medico’ is a one women performance by Stefania Licari, who is a stand up comedian AND intensive care doctor, which is impressive in itself. The show was ligh thearted and attracted an older audience on the day I saw it. There was a lot of heckling which I was initially concerned about but then I realised it was welcomed in this particular setting!

It is definitely a fringe style piece, minimalist set, small budget, it seems like with a bit more time and some more edits, the show could be brilliant! It’s an awesome concept as Stefania talks about ‘becoming British’ as an Italian immigrant in England and touches on the prejudices in the medical industry she faces. I think this was the strongest point she made, the other plot points seemed like filler and were never really unpacked so the script wasn’t very cohesive or engaging to follow. She talks about her love life as a doctor and gave comedic medical advice with the help of her skeleton patient, it was funny and gave us an interesting insight into her life- it was very autobiographical, even though she was portraying her alter ago Dr Anna LaRosa. Perhaps I went in expecting something more, but I was slightly underwhelmed with the ‘comedy’ aspect, but learned a lot when it came to cultural comment. My favourite part of the show is when she got more serious, talking about the difficult moments as a doctor, when patients die and working through COVID etc. I also found it very interesting hearing about the racism in the medical field through an Italian lens. I would say this show is aimed at audiences of a middle aged+ range, as a lot of the jokes were targeted to this demographic, I would also recommend this show to people who work or have experience working for the NHS or other medical fields, as I spoke to some nurses in the bar who said they found it relatable and they felt represented on stage. Overall it was a fun night out but a very different experience to most professional London theatre.

Rating: 3/5

Tickets Cost from £12 plus £2 booking fee.

MEDICO is at The Museum of Comedy, London from March 1st- July 2nd 2022, for more information or to book tickets visit https://museumofcomedy.ticketsolve.com/shows/873623097 or call the box office on +4402075341744.

Museum of Comedy The Undercroft, St Georges Church, Bloomsbury Way, London, WC1A 2SR.