Let her into your heart

Prepare for some quick-fire humour with the quirky comedienne Jude Simpson, writes Gareth McPherson.

An Outlandish display of poetry and banter should get the crowds going at the Norden Farm Centre for the Arts in Maidenhead on April 17.

Jude Simpson, a lively stand-up comedienne with a difference, is not afraid to burst into song amid the barrage of laughter and she even has a penchant for rapping.

She has appeared on Radio 4’s Saturday Live presented by Fi Glover, but her guitar-wielding performance, which regularly graces the stages of the Edinburgh Festival, is all about what it feels like to be grown up – and chronicles those who never did.

“I’ve always seen poetry and comedy as two things that fit together very well,” she told the Advertiser. “I started doing some serious poetry but to be honest it didn’t really work. The poems are my main thing, but I like to mix it in with songs and banter and people seem to find it all quite entertaining.”

Her solo show, which is brimming with insightful observational comedy and witty wordplay, is prone to bouts of audience participation as well as episodes of the absurd.

“My act is quite unusual,” she said. “When I do the rapping people really respond to it because it’s so bizarre. “I’m just a little white polite girl but then I start rapping like a gangster and it gets the crowd going.”

Jude’s act is described as ‘open for all’ although she admitted she had an unexpected fan base of middle-aged men.

“The thing I’m proud of is the fact it is so accessible and I don’t set out to make my audience feel uncomfortable like some comedians.

“After all it’s supposed to be fun.”

Details on 01628 788997 or at

www.nordenfarm.org