Eve: All About Her by Keith Ramsay. Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D to 26th August 2023. 4****: William Russell.

Eve: All About Her by Keith Ramsay. Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D to 26th August 2023.

4****: William Russell.

Keith Ramsay is a breathtakingly audacious cabaret performer – stand up comedian is not what he is – who has turned an obsession with the Joseph L Mankiewicz film All About Eve into an hour of stunning comedy, gay mythology, song, and he can certainly put over a number, to tell us just who Eve Harrington was. It is an interesting choice. Gay sensibilities tend to focus on Margo Channing, otherwise Bette Davis, rather than Anne Baxter. A slender young man in a tight blue suit, no shoes, shirt half pulled out, hair tousled for an hour he worked his audience with precision so that by the end everyone was on their feet wanting one more bow. He won The Stage award for the show at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe – the picture shows a rather different image from the one on stage at Dean Street. He opens by reciting all the credits for the film and then moves on to Eve’s climb up the ladder towards that moment when Margo finds her in her suite and seat belts get fastened. Just what energy he had left by the time he was finished is anybody’s guess.