Aarushi Agni: Emoji - Fringe Review

Thomas Levi
6 days ago
2 min read

Aarushi Agni’s Emoji 🌝 promises a deep dive into the tiny symbols that have transformed the way we communicate. It's an undeniably fascinating premise, blending stand-up, music, multimedia and cultural history into an hour about the world's favourite digital shorthand. Unfortunately, despite the strength of its ideas and the charisma of Aarushi Agni, the production struggles to organise those ideas into a coherent experience. 😕

The show begins by exploring how emojis shape modern communication before branching into everything from flirtatious text messages 🍑🍆 and misunderstandings 😬 to the political significance of the watermelon emoji 🍉. The show also covers more serious topics like Agni’s own near-death experience and the overlooked contribution of the two Black women whose work helped bring greater racial diversity to emoji keyboards. It is an hour overflowing with interesting stories and surprising facts.

I learnt things I didn't know, and several sections left me wanting to explore the subject further after the show. That's always a good sign. Plus, Agni is an engaging speaker, an accomplished singer and clearly passionate about the subject. The best moments happen when Agni trusts her own voice more than her PowerPoint.

That makes the execution all the more frustrating. The opening slides are read almost word for word, like a death-by-PowerPoint training course. Rather than allowing the visuals to support the storytelling, this slows the pace and drains momentum. I would rather hear Agni speak, and the screen do the emoting through emojis to prove her point; the few times she does this in the show land the biggest laughs. Fake TikToks, text conversations and original songs interrupt the flow without ever feeling important or necessary. Individually, each device has potential. Together, they compete for attention instead of building towards a clear theatrical identity.

There's a compelling show hidden inside Emoji. For this show to plant its feet, it needs to become a sharper comedic lecture exploring the history and cultural impact of emojis, or lean further into a fully realised narrative with more jokes and fewer messages; the potential is obvious.

🤔 Emoji has plenty to say; it just needs to find the right way to express itself. 💬