Pauline Sherlock: Psychopath School

“Psychopath School” is a character work by emerging comedian Pauline Sherlock. The premise: you, dear audience, are students at Psychopath School. Sherlock is a stringent, bloodied Headmistress overseeing a tutorial on how to be a psychopath. Emotional repression, law evasion, and murder are on the syllabus. 

Pauline Sherlock has undeniable skill as a performer. Her character work was committed, and her ability to respond to the audience illustrated real potential as an improv-based sketch comedian. 

However, this show left me with more qualms than anything else. There was a thematic undercurrent to “Psychopath School” about femicide and gendered violence, and yet this idea remained underbaked, and confusingly situated amongst the dark comedy which drove the piece. There were moments of real earnestness, which further highlighted Sherlock’s potential as a performer, but which in situ were a wet blanket on an already damp hour.

The very premise of this show relies on an almost-cartoonish, fictionalised image of the ‘psychopath’ as someone who rips the tails off cats and kills people with hatchets. And that’s meant to be the source of the humour: it’s funny because it’s dark and gross. And yet, we are asked to situate this cartoonish psychopathy amongst real-world atrocities. Suddenly, the ultra-violence slips from absurdity into tragedy. 

“Psychopath School” would benefit from additional development, and perhaps some additional dramaturgical support. The vision and the script require clarity. Sherlock has incredible potential as a performer, and I will be watching to see what she does next.