Emily-Anne "Elf" Lyons (born 1991) is a British stand-up comedian, writer and actress.
Early life Lyons is the daughter of economist Gerard Lyons. Her mother, Annette, is a painter and she has two siblings. She earned a BA in Drama from Bristol University and an MA in Theatre & Performance from Queen Mary University of London.Fisher, Jo. "BWW Interview: Elf Lyons Talks MEDUSA at Nuffield Southampton Theatres", BroadwayWorld.com, 11 October 2018 She then studied at École Philippe Gaulier in Étampes, France.
Career Lyons was the runner up for a Funny Women award in 2013. Her solo show Being Barbarella was an IdeasTap award winner at the Vault Festival at The Vaults, Waterloo, before Lyons travelled to Australia to perform it at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2015. She was a founder of "The Secret Comedians", a collective who run comedy nights in East London and was a regular compere at the Camden Comedy Club in Camden, London. She was a co-director of OddFlock, a London-based theatre company made up of a group of Drama graduates from the University of Bristol. She also directed at Riverside Studios, The Lion & Unicorn Theatre, Etcetera Theatre, and was a General Manager of the Finborough Theatre.London Wall programme, 2013]
Vogue called Lyons one of the five best new British female comics.Maitland, Hayley. "The Five Best New British Female Comics", Vogue, 16 September 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2019 In 2017 her show Swan was nominated for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Stephen Armstrong, in The Times wrote: "It was ludicrous and hilarious."Armstrong, Stephen. "Edinburgh Festival interview: comedian Elf Lyons talks Swan Lake and her new show ChiffChaff", The Times, 29 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2019 Bruce Dessau, reviewing her 2018 musical show ChiffChaff in The Evening Standard, gave the show four out of five stars. He called Lyons "a compelling physical presence" and judged that "as a loopy, unique mash-up ChiffChaff is bang on the money".Dessau, Bruce. "Elf Lyons review: Economics musical Chiffchaff turns the silliness dial up to 11", The Evening Standard, 26 March 2019 Later in 2018 she performed a new show, Medusa. An early 2019 show was called "Love Songs to Guinea Pigs".Dessau, Bruce. "Comedian Elf Lyons: 'After spinal surgery, I have to be very aware of what I can and can't do'", The Evening Standard, 3 January 2019 Unlikely Darlings, a collaboration with Helen Duff exploring the life of painter Leonora Carrington. Unlikely Darlings was selected as one of The Daily Telegraph's Top Cultural Moments of 2020. Brian Logan of The Guardian wrote in 2022 that Lyons “can’t be accused of treading the conventional career path ... None of her shows ever remotely resembles the next.” Her 2026 show The Woman on the Edge reflects the breakup of Lyons' engagement the previous year. Reviewing the Edinburgh Fringe run, Logan said "It’s potent stuff, building to a fierce finale in which she claws back something defiant, celebratory even, from the wreckage of her love life."
She has written for The Guardian on polyamory.Lyons, Elf. "A new way to love: in praise of polyamory", The Guardian, 22 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2019 and The Scotsman on the importance of play..
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External links
YouTube channel