What does it truly mean to be single? And how does a cat, going to therapy, and an air-fryer correlate with this? Winsie Chen: I’m Not a Feminist — Part 2 is an amazing piece of comedic stand-up performed by the one and only Winsie Chen, who is the writer, performer, and producer for this comedy set (alongside director Jules Brook).
Using her Chinese background and consistent mentions of her single life as tools for her set, Chen entertains through her confident stage presence and energetic persona. She approaches the stereotypes of being a Chinese woman, like her mention of her Asian dad giving tons of wires and cables as a form of love language. Chen also covers the relatable difference in her relationships with her mother and father: her mother always asks whether she’s single, and her father believes that no-contact means his daughter is low maintenance. On the other hand, as an Asian woman myself, I did feel at certain points she tended to fall too deep into the stereotypes when making fun of her heritage, but the audience seemed to find it enjoyable and humorous, so who am I to judge?
Upon entry, Chen walks through the audience and asks them to pick out a piece of chocolate from a box of “Celebrations”. She describes that our chocolate choices are an obvious representation of what our taste in men are, and from this, she shows the Bounty chocolate left in the stash — referring to this as the only White man left over that nobody wants (the only pick of the mix who would want to date her).
She goes on to tell the story of how she found love with a white man on the London Underground’s Picadilly Line for £2.80, which soon ended up with the set being based as an advertisement for the women in the audience of her “clit-sucker” (this is related to her storytelling, I promise). However, this storytelling fell quite flat as many of the audience didn’t know parts of London that she was referring to. Despite that, many could empathise with Chen’s thought of “looking for a prince, but I want the prince to look for me first”.
Chen’s set ends on a final quip to display her satirical anti-feminist agenda: “My prince is not coming, I still am”. All in all, Chen’s set-up ensures a perfectly fun time away from the chaos of Fringe, and a way to view the chaos in a different way: through this miniature peak into Winsie Chen’s life as an “anti-feminist”.
Image by James Mudge, provided to The Student as press.