Theatre Review: Tonguing with Carys Eleri

Molly Stubbs

Carys Eleri has returned to the stage in top form with her new one-woman comedy extravaganza, Tonguing. 

While spending the COVID-19 lockdown with her mam, Carys went through a tough period of isolation both physical and mental, struggling with distance from…well, just about everyone. That nightmare got even worse as she began to feel anxious in a way she’d never suffered before. 

But, like any shroom-taking extrovert worth their weight in self-help, this led Ms. Eleri down the rabbit hole of neuroscience, where she discovered all sorts of weird and wonderful things about brain waves and the inter-brain synchrony that takes place during conversations. 

Throw all that science-y stuff together, add in some animations from Lauren Norme, a set of pipes Celine Dion would be jealous of, and a very beautiful cat, and you’ve got Tonguing. 

Treat

From the moment I entered Cabaret on Tuesday 13 May and saw Carys wandering around the excitable audience in fabulous fluffy pink skirt, I knew we were in for a treat. 

Indeed, the leading lady kicked off the show with a bang, specifically with the original song ‘I’m Basically Barbie’.  All the songs in the show are original, both in the sense that Carys wrote them and because no one else could ever have come up with those wonderfully wacky lyrics.

Of course, the first big ol’ laugh of the evening came when the song built up to its climax: ‘I’m basically Barbie, with a big furry fanny.’ Imagine that line with an animation of Carys’s face superimposed onto a barbie doll with a giant bush, and you’ve got the vibe for the Tonguing.  

There were a bucketful of other songs, produced by Branwen Munn, ranging from opera-rock to French jazz and club bangers, all accompanied by delightful animations and incredible singing.

Seriously, even if you don’t find the show funny, I’d go just for the experience of watching Carys Eleri belt out her unpredictable tunes.

Highlights

Other Tonguing highlights included a few raucous stories about Meryl, Carys’s mam, who once told a waiter in Planet Hollywood who was reluctant to give her a table that she was Meryl Streep. She’s also the genius who suggested that, while Carys was tripping in a jacuzzi, they should play scrabble…the Welsh version, no less. I wonder if ‘Meryl as in Streep’ knew the classic comedy bit she was co-creating while Carys babbled at her about uber brains.

Another of my favourite anecdotes had COVID-era Carys, desperate for jobs, stuck on a crane singing Mariah Carey songs to a drive-in theatre full of cars in a sparkly dress. 

And don’t forget all the one-liners.

I haven’t been able to forget Carys’s explanation of the show’s name, Tonguing, as the slang for conversation. Which, as she says, the young’uns don’t understand because they all prefer fingering…typing on their phones, obviously! Get your mind out of the gutter. 

It’s clear that Tonguing is aimed at millennials of Carys’s own age, and as a Gen Z-er I couldn’t relate to the comedy directly. I enjoyed it in a different way. Carys seems to me like that raucously fun aunty that turns up to the family BBQ and argues with your step-dad about Welsh independence, then hogs the karaoke machine for so long the neighbours lodge a noise complaint. And I very much claim that energy and wish desperately that she was related to me.

Educational

But Tonguing wasn’t all fun and games and singing and dancing — the audience was regularly encouraged to get to their feet and have a boogie — because there were also some educational moments. 

For example, while telling us about how she can’t have sex in Welsh (don’t ask), Carys shared that the Welsh have historically been very dirty minded indeed. Did you know that medieval poet Gwerful Mechain composed several poems yn Gymraeg about rolling in the hay with well-endowed gentlemen?

Now why didn’t they teach me about that on my Welsh history degree?! 

And, of course, we went from laughing to sympathising as Carys shared how she’d fallen into the trap of arguing with people on social media and ended up feeling more alone than ever during lockdown.

The show would’ve been enjoyable if it had all been lighthearted, but that it had a salient point made it that much better.  

Having said that, though, while I think Carys’s messages about making an effort to engage in conversation and get tonguing were very well made and increasingly important in our post-COVID world, they were a bit ironic coming from an extrovert who talked at us for an hour and a half.

For us introverts, lockdown was actually pretty enjoyable. Or maybe that was just me…

Heartfelt

Anyway, the show hit all the high notes, literally. It was heartfelt, colourful, and bursting at the seams with energy that even got my husband up on his feet and shaking his booty, and take it from me that achievement deserves an award in itself. 

Tonguing combines the vibe of a lowkey conversation with a best friend and the updated, well-polished, very mature version of a show you’d create with your siblings and perform for your parents in your living room. That is to say, it’s the best of both fun, imaginative and relevant, and is a very worthwhile night out.

Tonguing with Carys Eleri ran from 8-16 May at the Wales Millennium Centre, and is showing at Yr Egin on 22 May, Theatr Felin Fach on 23 May, Neuadd Dwyfor on 29 May, Galeri Caernarfon on 30 May, and Pontio Bangor on 31 May.