Soho Theatre Live: Jessie Cave

A mother wondering if she would instinctively catch her baby or her iPhone if she dropped both at the same time is the exact kind of high-anxiety calculation that animates this performance. Filmed at the Soho Theatre in London, this 52-minute set captures Jessie Cave turning her personal insecurities into highly structured, slightly chaotic live art. Dressed in pigtails and a vintage frock, she stands in front of a sheet embroidered with her boyfriend’s exes—a DIY tribute to Tracey Emin that sets the stage for her obsessive retrospection.

The material centers on her relationship with fellow stand-up comic Alfie Brown. After a one-night stand led to an unexpected pregnancy, the pair decided to try and make a life together, leaving Cave to grapple with her first serious relationship while raising an infant. She relies on homemade visual aids, cardboard cut-outs, and intentionally clumsy shadow puppetry to recount the saga. Specific targets of her worry include the agonizing anticipation of the three dots on iMessage, accidentally double-tapping years-old Instagram photos of her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend Zoe, and stalking people online just to find some sort of emotional symmetry.

At the time of filming in 2017, Cave was balancing her career as an illustrator, having published her doodle book Lovesick in 2015, alongside acting roles in Trollied and Call the Midwife. Known to broader audiences for playing Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter films, she used this show to fully transition her public persona into that of a hyper-verbal, oversharing comic. The set was highly regarded during its live run, with critics finding her neurotic oversharing to be both deeply uncomfortable and incredibly funny, drawing comparisons to a more self-deprecating take on Lena Dunham’s Girls.