The colonnaded Lower Hall of Assembly Roxy is an impressive architectural space, marching ionic columns and barrel vaulted roofs, but perhaps not the ideal home for comedy. Plastic chairs sit on a flat floor facing a relatively low stage, making sightlines less than perfect and comfort something of a challenge over a 90-minute show. Add some troublesome microphone issues, particularly during the first half, and the evening does not get off to the most auspicious start.
Thankfully, Suzi Ruffell herself is something of a breath of fresh air.
There is an engagingly vaudevillian quality to Ruffell. She talks about Tipping the Velvet being something of a touchstone during her teenage years, and I certainly see a little of that dandyish, music-hall swagger in her. She is also a surprisingly physical performer: striding, hopping and occasionally contemporary dancing her way around the stage.
High energy coupled with those high waisted trousers and kipper tie, immediately give me Ben Elton vibes with a hint of Victoria Wood. It is not a bad combination. I see something of Elton in Ruffell’s fast, wordy, occasionally headlong delivery, while the observational and musical elements remind me of Wood. Ruffell doesn’t maintain Elton’s machine-gun pace throughout – few could – but over a substantial 90-minute set, with an interval, I am impressed by her stamina.
The title, Juggle, perhaps provides the thread connecting what can initially seem like a fairly disparate collection of stories. Ruffell is juggling family and career, motherhood and marriage, past and present, the serious and the ridiculous. Her wife and daughter litter the show, often rather touchingly, while much of the material draws upon growing up and coming to terms with her sexuality on her own terms. I get the sense that stand-up provides, at least in part, a means of working through those experiences.
Even so, I would like the structure to be tighter. At times, the evening feels like a succession of stories and routines rather than a completely joined-up whole.
The best sections demonstrate just how versatile Ruffell can be. I particularly enjoy a terrific routine about ghosts which becomes almost theatrical, with microphone manipulation, smoke and lighting adding another dimension to the storytelling. Elsewhere there are spiders, neighbours, silly voices and sharply observed characterisations.
Beneath the humour, however, I find a serious point. Ruffell worries about increasing homophobia and a climate in which people feel increasingly emboldened to express it. Her recurring message is the importance of representation – of being able to see people like yourself reflected in society. Even here she finds the joke, with a wickedly sharp line imagining Elon Musk discovering Mein Kampf and finally feeling represented.
And then comes the unexpected finale. Ruffell launches into singing and tap dancing, revealing another string to an already rather crowded bow. I find it exuberant, slightly ridiculous and completely in keeping with the vaudevillian character I have come to know over the course of the evening.
This is the final night of Ruffell’s tour, and by the end I sense that she is ready to return home to Brighton and the family who populate so much of her material. Despite the technical problems and a show that I feel could benefit from a stronger narrative spine, Juggle reveals Ruffell as an immensely likeable, versatile and frequently very funny performer.
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 24th September 2026
North West End UK Rating:
Running time – 1hr 45mins (including interval)