Harriet Dyer: Trigger Warning at Soho Theatre review – powerful and compelling

Comedian Harriet Dyer mentioned at the start of Trigger Warning that her hearing aid was whistling, making it difficult for her to listen to herself. Her aside later took on greater significance. As well as being an offbeat, idiosyncratic work, this is a powerful piece about young people not being heard.

As the show’s title suggests, do not read on or buy a ticket if the subject of sexual assault upsets you. Dyer, a fidgety, captivating presence, tells the story of her Cornish childhood with painful candour. At times bluntly serious, at times compellingly quirky. Without the latter, she jokes, the performance would merely be a witness statement.

At the heart of her monologue Dyer – not to be confused with her Australian namesake who stars in new BBC comedy Colin From Accounts – opens up about a traumatic event that has cast a shadow over her life.

As a youngster with loving if unconventional working class parents she had a paper round, lobbing tabloids at an eccentric bunch of neighbours and avoiding being bitten by local dogs. She was advised by her mother to pretend to be a dog herself.

When Dyer talks about a brutal encounter, there is a matter-of-fact tone to her account which makes the abrupt gear change all the more halting. As horrific as her narrative is here, she continues to pepper her recollections with gags. Humour is one of the ways she has coped.

The police do not emerge with much in the way of credit. At best they are a bunch of bumbling bobbies straight out of Hot Fuzz, at worst they simply failed to do their basic duty. Dyer looked for support among authority figures and found none.

Eventually she moved away, hoping to start elsewhere with a clean slate. But, as she ruefully notes, “wherever you go your brain is still in your head.” The horror of her past returned in ways she could have never imagined.

Dyer can be scatty and it takes a while for her to put the audience at their ease. But when she hits her stride there is plenty of vivid, colourful imagery. She remembers mistaking a rodent for a glove and on getting her first bike recalls that she was so excited, “I mowed my gran down.”

The show has some loose ends. How much did her parents intervene? But it concludes on an uplifting note. Dyer has become an active mental health advocate and now has a partner who is there for her; something that was lacking when she was younger. A potent tale, if not always easy listening.

Touring; harrietdyer.com