Coming hot on the heels of the mega successful Notallmen, comedian Esther Manito returns to the North East with her new show Hell Hath No Fury. Damian Robinson caught up with Esther to find out more.
Before we get to the new tour, we really enjoyed Notallmen, can you tell us how you feel about that show when you look back at it now?
Ahhh thank you! I liked that show too. I have to say the part of that show I enjoyed the most was discussing family life, which then spurred me on to writing this show.
In terms of the new show, ‘Hell Hath no fury’ – appreciate you don’t want to give too much away but could you tell us a little about the main premise?
Well, as many women were, I was always made to feel that anger was a fairly gross trait to have. So, I would try and repress my rage, and should it show itself I would apologise profusely. However, I am someone that has ridiculous stuff happen to them ALL the time so it’s so hard to keep a lid on it! On top of that, bring kids and marriage into the mix and I have been completely unable to stop my rage from pouring out. This hour is an invitation to embrace being totally pissed off at the total bull crap that is being a 40 year old woman with kids!
Notallmen gained considerable plaudits and positive reviews, did that make the creation of Hell Hath no Fury a little more difficult to pull together than previous shows and are you feeling any internal or external pressures?
Why thank you! No, I didn’t feel pressured, I mean I want it to go well, but I was genuinely really excited to write this show and from the moment I began to work on material for this show at new material nights etc I had people come up to me and want to chat about the bits that they related to and that made me feel super excited about this show.
You’ve started the Hell Hath tour already, how’s it been going so far for you?
Oh my god I have had such a great start to the tour! I am so grateful. The audiences have been BRILLIANT, I have had some people come twice, which is beyond flattering.
The show in Newcastle, at the Stand, is on the 7th October – do you have any particular memories of playing to a North East crowd and do they differ at all from playing other regions?
I’ve only gigged once in the North East for radio 4 and the audience was lovely. This is my first time doing a solo show in the North East and I am very excited.
In terms of the rest of 2023, and into 2024, what’s on the horizon next for you?
I’m running the London Marathon next year so I will be spending the first part of 2024 staring at myself in the mirror saying “You absolute idiot, what have you agreed to?” and after that I will work on my next show.