Hayley Ellis: We Need to Talk About Kevin

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A show of hands at the beginning of this afternoon's performance suggests a marketing strategy gone awry. With a cute pooch both emblazoned across her posters and personally accompanying a flyerer on her rounds outside the venue, Hayley Ellis has attracted an audience almost entirely made up of dog owners. It turns out that video footage of their favoured animal is enough to send these people into fits of laughter, but dogs and live comedy have otherwise limited crossover appeal. The comedian plays to a full room, but has to work especially hard to keep this unlikely demographic entertained.

It's only really her darker moments that fall on deaf ears, as Ellis proves an engaging and quick-witted performer. She resorts to some of her craft's more over-used conventions, tediously commenting on photos of herself at a young age, but offers us fresh comic perspective whenever her PowerPoint presentation leads her off on a tangent. Those impressed by such flashes of brilliance may find themselves wishing that she'd abandon the show's restrictive format altogether, but We Need to Talk About Kevin really starts to drag once she does. When focus shifts away from her titular dog to the recent dissolution of a relationship, the performer appears to lose all focus and struggles toward a trite, muddled point about independence and optimism, or something along those lines.