Actor and comedian Ambrosine Davies returns with LA Baby, a solo show that made its mark in Edinburgh and is now wrapping up a short tour around Lambeth.
Directed by Eduardo Barreto, it’s currently playing at The Glitch, where it cheekily shares the stage with the set of The Lost Library of Leake Street.
Luckily, LA Baby is exactly the kind of one-person piece that doesn’t rely on elaborate props or scenery to make its point.
Drawing on Davies’s nine months living in Los Angeles auditioning, waitressing, nannying for the super-rich, and weathering a toxic relationship, the show promises a darkly comic dive into personal experience.
On paper, it has all the ingredients for a sharp, characterful exploration of what it means to be young, hopeful, and floundering in a famously unforgiving city that hates the poor and objectifies women.
In practice, though, LA Baby sometimes feels unsure of where to place its emotional focus. The character work gets increasingly broad, and the story drifts into familiar territory.
Given its partnership with domestic violence charity Refuge, and its references to a boyfriend with a volatile temper, you might expect a deeper look at the vulnerability of being alone in a city full of sharks.
Instead, the narrative spends considerable time on a manipulative, deadbeat father who weaponises his children during a divorce and suggests to Davies a seedy way to earn cash: an angle that feels less compelling than the material hinted at elsewhere.
Davies gamely sketches a parade of LA personalities (at least nineteen, by my count), from a sun-bleached ‘Karen’ to predatory men and bratty children, plus a mechanical toy cat who almost steals the show.
Her audition as a ‘mute cleaning lady’ sets the tone for an hour of fake friendships, casual cruelties, and the constant pressure to reinvent yourself.
Yet for all its energy, LA Baby falters because its protagonist is difficult to root for. Her self-absorption blunts the impact of the darker moments, leaving the bursts of fear and violence feeling strangely muted.
The result is a show with sparks of promise that doesn’t quite ignite across the hour’s runtime.
I’m giving this 2.5*.
LA Baby returns to The Glitch for two more performances on 7 Dec (5.30pm) and 14 Dec (8.45pm). Tickets here.