Just The Tonic @ The Caves

Aug 3-26 (13.20)

Material:  Delivery:  Laughs: 

For “Self Helpless,” Sandra Hale performs a witty satire of a self-help guru, and dispenses actual wisdom to her audience. She gives us her realizations from decades being a funny woman, surviving despite societies demand that people are good looking, submissive and talented. She uses music and charisma with her audience and even some tap dancing. Sandra’s character is a master of charm, and through her hour of acutely vivid performance, we see that charm can be just another trick someone learned from a self-help book. In an earlier interview with The Mumble, Sandra ruminated upon the book which accompanies her show;

My book is a complete antithesis to every self help book out there. After all we can’t all be selfless, moralistic and confident. So if like me you are insecure, needy, and a people pleaser then this book is for you. You may still have low self esteem after reading it but you won’t care. The show came first and the book evolved from it. They are both different but the theme runs true in both. Never be yourself! It doesn’t work!

Self Helpless is a smart satire of the self-help industry, which often asks that people change themselves in order to be more themselves, a paradox which is mostly unhelpful. Sandra’s guru character bewitches us all at the beginning of the show, and as the story unfolds we see that the human being behind the charm is suffering just as much as us. To hear articulated & to understand that we are all just as miserable as one another is an eye-opening epiphany; when we realize that suffering is normal we can stop worrying about trying to change and we can be more content with our lives. You will not figure out the cause of your misery from seeing “Self Helpless,” but you can have a splendid time and gain some illumination into how you can begin to help yourself by seeing teh very special Sandra Hale this Fringe.

Reviewer : Michael Beeson