★★★★
When the lights dim for I See Me and Meryl Streep, Alexandra Keddie’s (almost) one-woman show at The Other Palace, you’re aware you’ve been plunged into a distinctly Streep-shaped world. The set is plastered with homages to the three-time Oscar winner, from a full Meryl calendar with all twelve months spread across the walls to a life-size cardboard cutout. “I found it in a bin in Soho, but I rescued it,” Keddie’s protagonist explains, before giving the cardboard a kiss.
Writer-performer Keddie plays 16-year-old Meryl (named, allegedly, for Streep), GCSE drama student and Meryl obsessive. She’s been harbouring ambitions to be an actor just like her idol since her early school days, brimming with positivity and ambition for her future despite the naysaying teachers and classmates she’s surrounded by. The show also serves as a semi-biography of Streep’s career, with Keddie recounting the actor’s early days—noting that Streep too was told by various people that she’d never make it—traversing through her most iconic roles to the present day. There’s an element of the maniacal to this obsessive approach to her favourite actor, but you forgive it because of the character’s age, immersed in that period of adolescence where everything is possible and you could be anything. Three Oscars? There’s every chance it could happen—go for it!
Keddie’s performance is enigmatic. Her comic timing is brilliant, and despite the character’s increasingly bizarre fixation, she makes her extremely likeable, leaving you rooting for her success. There are some killer lines and well-pitched physical comedy, particularly in one sequence where a litany of Streep’s roles are reeled off through some notably inventive (and fast!) costume changes. The musical numbers, which Keddie sings herself are well done, proving she’s a triple threat. There’s some creative use of the tech team to give buoyance to the plot—the pianist in the corner is actually her sister “Diane Keaton” (actually just “Diane”, as the sister keeps insisting), and her “mum” is doing the lights. There’s also a brilliant sight gag in the “Meryl Mountain,” a whiteboard in the corner to chart our protagonist’s journey towards her idol’s equivalent superstardom.
Occasionally, the jokes don’t quite land. It’s hard to make anything genuinely funny about Sophie’s Choice, though that’s not to say Keddie’s attempt isn’t strong, having Meryl “choose” between two identical Streep cushions. The nods to the lesser-known films in the actor’s oeuvre (Music of the Heart, The River Wild) are too niche to garner much of a laugh, though it’s surprising how few audience members laughed at “NOW, a warning?” perhaps one of the most recognisable lines from Death Becomes Her. Where the show could be denser is the story arc of the protagonist herself. By the end, we still know little about her beyond the Streep obsession, and it feels like there’s room for more story here beyond what is ostensibly a cabaret of Meryl Streep moments with a plot stuffed into the mix. That said, it’s hard to fault a show with so much warmth, thick and fast laughs—and a cover of ‘Waterloo’ in full Mamma Mia get-up at the end.
In the deeper moments of I See Me and Meryl Streep, fandoms are explored in an endearing way and it manages to make some astute points about celebrity. Why do we idolise Meryl so much? It’s clear that most of her work has gained iconic status, and even awards speeches she’s given have been meme’d and mimicked to death. (“Sometimes even I think I’m overrated… but not todayyyy!” gets a shoutout.) In one reflective moment, Keddie’s Meryl says “Maybe there is such a thing as too much Meryl Streep. But then, I’m not doing drugs, so maybe it’s not that bad?” We’re often so quick to criticise fandoms but maybe centring your life round a pursuit like acting by looking up to your favourite performers is no waste? Maybe when choosing which pursuits to follow, we can all afford to ask—What Would Meryl Do?
Funny, heartwarming and packed with musical flair, for Meryl fans, it’s a must.
I See Me and Meryl Streep will be performed at The Other Palace until 4 May.
Words by James Morton
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