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★★★★★
Actor, author and comedian Joe Tracini is currently touring regional theatres across the UK with his dark comedy solo show ‘Ten Things I Hate About Me’, which was at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025. Through his role in the public eye, Joe has been a big advocate for mental health awareness over the years and this show details his experiences living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This week ‘Ten Things I Hate About Me’ was at the Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone and I found the piece to be hilarious, heartfelt and refreshingly reflective.
Raw storytelling
Over the course of 60 minutes Tracini shares how mental health and BPD has affected his day-to-day life through anecdotes, comedy and two original songs (played live on ukulele). The audience joins him on a journey back to his childhood where he discovered a love of magic and didn’t quite fit in, and the years that followed since where he found fame, lived with addiction and went to rehab twice. The performer has been clean for 13 years now and it was during his second rehab visit that he received the BPD diagnosis. We learn about how he processed this and came to better understand his own mind. Even though the show’s central topic is mental health and the themes could be considered quite hard hitting, there is plenty of space for laughs and the material is surprisingly uplifting. I came away from the performance appreciating everything Tracini has overcome, but also acutely aware that days can still be difficult thanks to the transparent dialogue.
Use of imagery and video
The show uses multimedia exceptionally well, from the hilariously timed reveal of old photos to the title slides carrying the audience through the nine symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. It is a visual guide through the material, illustrating the anecdotes, providing context and bringing a whole new layer to the storytelling. The photos and videos from the past encourage laughter in and amongst the darker moments and help audiences to step into the performer’s world.
Witty and reflective
It goes without saying that this is a brilliant comedy piece, but it is the openness of the material that is bound to help people. Jokes balance the more upsetting themes and you come away from ‘Ten Things I Hate About Me’ thinking how well it showcases an individual’s mental health reality. Joe Tracini’s solo show is certainly one to watch and will stick with me as an incredibly personal and relevant one-person piece about BPD – a disorder I knew very little about going into the performance. The show is on tour until July, with the final dates scheduled for Brighton Dome (19th June), Norwich Theatre Playhouse (22nd-24th June), City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds (28th June) and Exeter Phoenix (1st July). Ticket links for all of the remaining dates can be found via the Norwich Theatre website.
*My ticket for ‘Joe Tracini: Ten Things I Hate About Me’ was gifted in exchange for an unbiased review.
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