“Why women are better survivors than men” – Comedian Shazia Mirza returns to The Lowry

Award-winning comedian, Shazia Mirza, is returning to the Lowry this November for the first time since before the pandemic.

The critically acclaimed show ‘Coconut’ was written based on her time on the 2017 reality TV show Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls, and focuses on, “why women are better survivors than men”.

Describing her set, she said: “I talk about the differences between men and women on the island and why we survived better, our loyalty, and I related it to a lot of politics that is going on at the moment.”

Many of the topics she covers in Coconut include her representation and the hardships she faced as the only vegetarian on the island having to eat a crocodile.

“I got a lot of abuse from vegetarians who said that, ‘you were the only vegetarian on the island, you should have been representing us all and you should not have eaten the crocodile!’

“Why do we have to represent all of the people who are like us? If you’re a woman and you are in the public eye, all of a sudden you have to represent all women. If you are a vegetarian, you have to represent all vegetarians. If you are a person of colour, all of a sudden you have to represent all black people or Asian people. I talk about why that is important, but also why it’s really difficult.”

The 2017 reality show saw five men and women enter, with only two men surviving as opposed to four women who were able to stick it out to the end.

Mirza said: “It was a very difficult and life-changing experience. To be dumped on an island with 10 people you don’t know and you are starving to death and you have to survive – you’ll never forget that experience.”

She’s been touring Coconut for nine months and spoke of her excitement to return to Salford: “I love Manchester because I went to Manchester University years ago, and it’s always a great audience.

“They watch a lot of comedy and I’ve performed at the Lowry many times – they’re really raucous and a really fun audience.”

Coconut was nominated for ‘Best Stand-Up Tour Show’ in Channel 4’s National Comedy Awards 2021.