FESTIVAL COMEDY | Reviews
ANDREA SPISTO: MISS VENEZUELA Boldly creating work while her country burns ●●●●●
Clown comedy doesn’t always have a specific message or profound theme, but when it does, it can often become a powerful and unexpectedly moving experience. Andrea Spisto’s Miss Venezuela may be a mish-mash of character comedy, dance, absurd physical theatre and dynamic clowning, but it has a fundamental message at its heart, as Spisto tears apart her identity as a queer Venezuelan woman.
We meet her in preparation for the Miss Universe competition,
as the pageant music plays on a loop with a pushy voiceover challenging her at every turn. She repeats the all-important walk over and over, with each iteration revealing that little bit more of her frustrations with the specific notion of womanhood and perfection projected by this element of pageantry. When she eventually snaps, kicking off her sparkly heels and trading her ball gown for a suit, there is a direct view into her resentment of beauty standards, machismo pride and the burdens of expectation. The political situation in Venezuela remains problematic as a result
of what is described as the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, with basic needs being affected and people suffering at the hands of politicians. So as one of the only Venezuelan performers at the Fringe this year, shouldn’t Spisto be engaging with the crisis in some capacity? And here lies her predicament: how can she present a ‘carnival of queerness’ with the situation back home constantly influencing her creative output?
But as she concludes with a dance number, it’s clear the answer
to her dilemma lies in celebration and spiritual revolution. With a mood-board of her idols, heroes and inspirations perched behind her, Spisto provides a valuable reminder of the power of creativity when liberation is the goal. (Arusa Qureshi) ■ Just the Tonic at The Mash House, until 26 Aug (not 13), 10.10pm, £7 in advance or donations at the venue.
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WIL GREENWAY: EITHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING A delicate hour of intricate stories ●●●●● ZOE LYONS: ENTRY LEVEL HUMAN Show abut whinging goes to another level ●●●●●
IVO GRAHAM: MOTION SICKNESS Eton chap on life’s inevitable trajectory ●●●●●
Making his debut in the Fringe programme’s Comedy section, Wil Greenway’s work remains a tricky beast to pin down. Not quite dramatic enough to sit neatly in Theatre, is it really funny enough to be considered in Comedy? Until they start a Whimsical Music & Storytelling Stuff section, this likeable Australian will continue to be awkward to accommodate during a month when everyone is hellbent on pigeonholing for reasons that are both cultural and practical. Either Side of Everything is a delicate creature, a story with warm loveliness at its heart but with the odd rough edge applied to keep you from getting too cosy. Accompanied by two vocalists, one of them gently strumming a guitar, Greenway immediately conjures up the feeling that we’re in a boat on the sea, announcing that this is all just one big metaphor (the pedantic might say that if you have to tell people that you’ve created a metaphor then maybe it’s not doing such a great job).
Over the course of this fragile and beautiful but oddly forgettable hour, Greenway tells recurring mini-tales of a beetle heading home to his family, a woman grieving for her dog, and quite a lot of figs. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Underbelly Bristo Square, until 26 Aug (not 13), 2.50pm, £10.50–£11.50 (£9.50–£10.50).
58 THE LIST FESTIVAL 8–15 Aug 2018
Zoe Lyons has reached the stage in her career where it’s not the promise of such-and-such a show that lures people in, they just want to hear her talk for an hour in her fast-paced, energetic and at-times misanthropic style. This year she turns her gaze to people who leave a lot to be desired in the brains and manners departments: ‘entry level humans’, she calls them. We’ve all encountered these types (and they seem particularly prevalent during the Fringe when every opponent of pavement etiquette seems to descend on the city) and we’ve all been them in our less clever or noble moments.
Lyons talks us through the indignities of internet
connectivity problems, motivational phrases and holiday misadventures, mixing observations about the absurdities of the world around us with her own foibles, somehow working in an impression of a fly that is an unexpected highlight. From a show that is mostly about whinging about
the annoyances of other people, there emerges a deeper message: to think critically about the way we interact with the world and the choices we make even if it’s about something trivial. (Suzanne Black) ■ Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug, 5.45pm, £11.50–£12.50 (£9.50–£10.50).
Admitting that his comedy USP remains his status as a young Etonian of a surprisingly liberal-left persuasion, Ivo Graham’s life is slowly moving on. He’s gone and poached himself a lady, it seems, and they’re now engaged to be wed. Naturally, given his prowess with the opposite sex to date (he claims to have had just the one sexual partner during his 27 years on the planet), this impending scenario is the latest thing he can add to his worry list. Ever the gentleman, Graham apologises for kicking off late, all of which was Nicholas Parsons’ fault, but given that he’s one of his heroes, there’s never any chance of him bad-mouthing the Fringe veteran. Easily packing out the iconic Cabaret Bar, this is quite simply just another fine show from Graham, with deliciously crafted lines and funny imagery aplenty.
Though it perhaps doesn’t quite pack the hilarious punch of last year’s Educated Guess, the stories of being trapped at outdoor activity centre Go Ape, reminiscing about the woman eight years his senior to whom he lost his virginity, and the escalating Fawlty Towers-esque delirium of his attempts to propose are all worthy members of the Ivo Graham anecdote club. (Brian Donaldson) ■ Pleasance Courtyard, until 26 Aug (not 13), 6.40pm, £8.50–£12 (£7.50–£10).