Reindeer Baby

You won’t be able to shake this off: first on Netflix, now with us – a comedian and his second shadow.

Richard Gadd is a young, unsuccessful comedian who earns his living behind the bar and longs for people to find him funny. His girlfriend Teri does find him funny. Another person who finds Gadd funny is Martha, who suddenly starts hanging around the bar every day: in her mid-40s, she claims to be a super-busy lawyer who advises the country’s political elite and owns several properties in London. On the other hand, she has time to spare, doesn’t even have money for tea and rummages through the rubbish for useful items. And she’s come to stay. She gives Gadd the nickname ‘Reindeer’ after her cuddly toy – red flag! – she bombards him with sexually explicit messages – red flag! – she sits in the front row at every one of his shows, she claims they’re a couple, she harasses his parents, she picks on his girlfriend. She’s simply everywhere and always there. And this isn’t the first time she’s done any of this. Red flag! So far, so clear, right? Not at all.

Because Gadd occasionally enjoys Martha’s attention, even encourages it. He excludes his girlfriend Teri – a trans woman, gender-fluid, politically active, a super-brain (but how can you possibly pigeonhole someone like that?) – from his birthday celebrations so as not to upset Martha. The police, whom Gadd turns to in increasing desperation, find the allegations insufficiently substantiated to intervene. Hasn’t he also sent her suggestive messages? And when Gadd tries to set a trap for Martha, he suddenly finds himself cast as the perpetrator.

The Scottish actor and comedian Richard Gadd has written down his personal story in Baby Reindeer. The Netflix series based on it struck a chord and made him famous overnight. In a world where we desperately long for certainties and clear-cut categories, this solo performance by a courageous actor challenges familiar perspectives and propels us, relentlessly and at times very comically, into morally mine-strewn territory …