Comedy review: Stand Up with Janine Harouni (Please Remain Seated), Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh


Stand Up with Janine Harouni (Please Remain Seated), Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh * * * *
A jobbing actor living in the UK for seven years, she’s from Staten Island, New York, raised in its blue collar, religious, outspoken and conservative traditions, exemplified by her parents’ views on sex before marriage and her father’s homophobia. Partially of Arab stock, but passing as an Italian-American, she’s been oddly privy to Islamophobia since 9/11. And having seen a bit of the world, she’s converted to a liberal perspective, ensuring that she frequently butts heads with her family. Even so, her parents confound their stereotyping, with Harouni’s feelings towards her father in particular complicated by his good deeds, extending to some exceptional altruism. When tragedy strikes, the family instinctively pulls together. But some differences still need to be bridged.
Until 25 August