Is she nervous tonight? “I don’t have any energy for that anymore, dude.” Soundos El Ahmadi (41) recently had a child, a process in which she had factored in some things such as fatigue (not nice) and morphine (nice). More unexpected was an argument with a well-known colleague “who is angry that you are not allowed to say anything while he has become a millionaire with it” and who gives them a short review of his current work (“stupid PVV comedy”).
For name and back number you can go to the fifth performance of Soundos, because in comeback kid she does not turn her heart into a murder pit. “I don’t want to be lonely in my experiences anymore,” she announces early in the evening. This openness may be due to increased self-confidence, as Soundos has another statement: “I have been doing this for 21 years and only now am I good.” Act or not, such a statement raises expectations. In Come back kid are partially redeemed.
It is strong how Soundos reveals the obstacles she encountered as a woman of Moroccan origin who knew at an early age that she wanted to become a cabaret artist. A painful enumeration of injustice, Soundos tells it understated: An obnoxious geography teacher who was left stunned when he heard the answer ‘cabaret artist’ when asked what Soundos wanted to be when he grew up; Theater programmers who saw the promise of a diverse audience in booking Soundos, but stated aloud after the performance that it simply attracted a ‘normal audience’; Arriving at a theater where she saw herself advertised on a poster with the words: ‘a tropical evening with a tropical comedian.’
Soundos tells these anecdotes in just the right tone: direct, without self-pity and with a pleasant timing. As a result, the humor flows naturally from the tragedy, a fine demonstration of the power of tragicomedy.
Vagina, breasts, corona tests
Less strong are the moments when Soundos tries to pump up a story that has little to do into a comic anecdote in acts with a barrage of excited swearing. Just using words like ‘vagina’ or giving names to your breasts (Henk and Ingrid) has little effect in itself. The choice of some subjects does not help either. Little credit can be gained from stories about corona tests and coffee and cake at a funeral.
Soundos is definitely an entertainer who knows how to captivate, but her powerful personality also means that she knows how to get away with a somewhat meager content. Sometimes she puts her finger on a sore spot or has a nice one-liner (“You took Ali B as a cuddly Moroccan, now you can’t suddenly give him back”), but at other times her self-proclaimed openness is not much more than empty bravura. That can be nice to watch, but it doesn’t get really exciting.
Soundos introduces itself comeback kid like a superwoman who is now invulnerable after a long road. Just as superman is fantasy, it’s also hard to believe that Soundos is only strong now. You would therefore like to hear and see more of what lies behind the facade and act of this strong woman.