Ally Ryan’s one-woman play starts as a simple look at Megan, a woman lacking confidence on the stand-up comedy scene, but becomes something much more complex. We soon realise she has to operate inside the toxic manosphere. It’s a world where she’s expected to treat misogyny, racism and surreptitiously filmed sexual encounters as the norm. Just as her career takes an upturn, she meets a genuinely nice man. But her realisation that the two worlds can’t merge forces her into a decision. Megan courts the approval of the manipulative men on the circuit and chases numbers on social media while pushing away something real. It’s an engaging, relevant and funny piece that Ryan performs with sincerity and passion.

Gilded Balloon Patter House, until 31 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Tom Brogan]