Miranda Hart at the Arena

Emily Shaw on her first comedy gig and first visit to the Arena to see Miranda Hart …

When I received a ticket to see Miranda Hart’s ‘My, What I Call, Live Show’ for Christmas (thank you to my sister for that one!) I was excited. When the night arrived, however, I was ill. Unperturbed by my germs, I soldiered on, and had a great time. Though I do apologise to the few rows around me who had to put up with my coughing…

This was not only my first arena comedy gig, but also my first time seeing the First Direct Arena, which has clearly been designed so that every seat has a good view. Obviously, at a comedy show everyone other than the first few rows can only see a person on stage, not their facial expressions, but the big screens solved this problem nicely. I imagine the Arena will be great for music shows too, and I look forward to going back to see one soon.

A lot of people were sceptical when the star of sitcom ‘Miranda’ announced she was doing an arena tour. This is her debut tour, and many wondered how the slapstick comedy and knowing looks to camera would transition to big venues packed full of people. But they certainly did transition well – the show was a great success.

The show had the perfect mix of new material, extended stories that had been mentioned in the sitcom, and favourites from the show – ‘such fun!’. The new material was also very good. Some of my favourite moments were Miranda’s re-entrance for the encore, her match-making attempts all going a bit wrong and her accidental flirtation with both a woman and a 16 year old boy. That’s the beauty of live comedy – every show will be different! There was lots of audience participation in the form of singing, dancing and even recreating a posh party, and I felt that none of the closeness to the comedian that comes from a sitcom was lost.

I would say, however, that if you don’t like the sitcom or are perhaps one of the people who find it too immature, this probably isn’t for you. This isn’t a tour that tries to drastically redesign Miranda Hart as a comedian, it features the elements that she is best known and loved for, and is all the better for it. It’s a tour that’s for ages 12 and up, which meant that there was no crude comedy that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, and I think that’s a part of what I loved about the show – it’s comedy you can relax into without feeling embarrassed. Other than when the camera catches you badly dancing of course…

I laughed. I sang. I coughed. I danced to Whigfield. In all, I had a brilliant night, and from the levels of laughter from around me, so did everyone else.

Miranda has finished her tour in Leeds, but has added several new tour dates in Sheffield in April, find more information here: mirandahart.com/