Tumi Morake is a big girl, she’s black and this is her first time performing out of South Africa. She starts off explaining this, talking about being overweight and the horror of arriving in Edinburgh to find a city of stairs, fried food and people who don’t speak English in the way the missionaries taught her. Other topics Tumi riffs around include her husband and two children (plus number three in her belly), race, South Africa, racism, Nelson Mandela, parenting, dieting, eating and religion. She says the segment on Mr Mandela and racism/nationalism may change, depending on whether he makes it through the month.
She was relaxed and confident on stage and wasn’t afraid to pick on the audience when we failed to understand some of the words she used. She also picked on the English pronunciation of a number of words for being spelt differently to how they are said, but most of the words she chose were originally French. Though I wasn’t going to put my hand up!
The small audience were giving out loud laughs throughout the show, although I got the impression that it was often more entertaining for the ladies, as men were often the butt of her jokes. I think that Tumi’s performance will develop over the next few weeks as she works out which jokes the audience understands (ie how well they know South African culture) and more local references are worked into her routine.
There is an explanation of the Michael Jackson referenced title and poster, but you should see the show to find out. This is worth seeing if you are looking for a comedian who is a little out of the ordinary and is able to have a laugh at herself. A good solid hour of entertainment.
Tumi Morake performs HerStory at the Assembly Hall at 9pm
For Info and Bookings https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/comedy/tumi-morake-in-herstory