It is easy to work out by the picture on this page what Janine Harouni has been up to recently. At the time of writing she is 8 and a half months pregnant. Her first baby is due in the first week of September. Although apparently her mother gave birth early, so the end of August could be very interesting for Harouni, who was a Best Newcomer nominee in the 2019 Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Her new show, Man'Oushe is about her pregnancy but also much more. She delves back into her family past, making connections with the present. Her grandmother was a widely regarded Lebanese singer and maybe they have more in common than Harouni initially thinks.

There is a lot of pack in as she fills us in on previous Harouni history and recent peronal events. Harouni is a New Yorker, her mum is Italian/Irish, her father – a Trump supporter so there is immediately comedy potential there – is Lebanese, which she recently discovered is an Asian country when she was nominated for an Asian Women of Achievement Award and thought there was surely some mistake. As has been observed before, she sounds and looks like she should be in The Sopranos.

Harouni's partner is fellow comedian Andrew Nolan, and she extracts plenty of laughs from their relationship - how they coped during lockdown, how their marriage went from a flashy, big expensive affair to a small intimate one due to Covid. The comical story about Nolan's proposal will make you laugh and also go a bit mushy inside. She is a great storyteller with natural comic rhythms and never misses a beat. 

As if things were not emotional already, another supporting character is mentioned, director Adam Brace, who has played a key role in her development and was a close friend and mentor. Comedy fans may recognise the name. Spoiler alert, you can find out more about him here, but you'd be better off seeing the show first. 

Harouni is very good at drawing verbal pictures of her family and friends and by the end you feel that you know a number of characters that she mentions as well as your own family. I couldn't quite work out why she and Nolan had to have couples therapy though - it seems like a pretty successful relationship to me.

This is a show that has everything. A number of narrative rollercoasters, a beginning, middle and an end, even if the real end might be in early September. There's a finely tuned subtext about choosing between careers and motherhood. And maybe, if it is not already obvious, it is worth mentioning that it is very funny. A show that really delivers (sorry, on a deadline, maybe I'll think of a better childbirth pun to finish on later).

Until August 25. Tickets here.

Read more reviews here.

four stars

Picture: Matt Stronge