Review: 10 Things They Hate About Me, Fringe 2025

Shinanne Higgins kicks off 10 Things They Hate About Me with an ode to an unused condom. From that moment on, in the intimate confines of the Brass Monkey’s cinema room, the tone is set.

This is going to be an hour of unapologetically personal and direct comedy, and it’s all the better for it.

A Sea of Red Flags

Before Higgins even serenades the latex, she hands out ten red flags to the audience. I treasured this move. Each flag represents one of the ten things that others have supposedly found unattractive in her. This is not just a prop; it’s the engine of the show.

Throughout the hour, audience members are called upon to wave their flag and read out the “flaw” in question, which then serves as the launchpad for Higgins’ next routine. It’s a clever, interactive structure that keeps the audience engaged and ensures the material remains firmly rooted in the show’s central, personal theme. It’s a bold way to command a room, especially at noon on a Tuesday.

Personal and Provocative

Higgins, a comedian from Ireland, presents a list of her supposed dating defects with wit and a welcome lack of apology. Some of the “things” are baffling; the idea that a woman “having ideas” is considered a turn-off had feminist alarm bells ringing in my mind. That this is even a point for discussion is a problem, but it certainly isn’t Shinanne’s.

She rounds off the show with an act that may have left some of the older gentlemen in the slightly muted crowd a little taken aback. Producing a vibrator, she delivers her final piece of poetry accompanied by its distinct buzzing, clearly audible through the microphone. It’s a wonderfully audacious finale. Welcome to the Fringe.

Overall

This is a robust, solid slice of back-room Fringe comedy. While some moments land with more punch than others, the entire package is delivered with charm and a defiant honesty. Shinanne Higgins has crafted a bracing, honest, and very funny hour of comedy about the trials of modern dating. A show that begins with a song for a condom promises not to pull its punches, and it delivers.