MAKE ME LOOK FIT ON THE POSTER

Soho Theatre

★★★★

“She’s the kind of person you want to hang out with. Someone you might meet in a club bathroom on a night out and follow around, desperate to be her friend”

Watching Amy Gledhill is like stepping into a warm bath. This show won the Edinburgh Fringe 2024 Best Show award and it’s no wonder. She is so in control and comfortable on stage that the audience can just let the waves of comedy wash over them. She’s a pro in action.

Gledhill walks out and shimmies, then sultrily asks the audience if they’d like to go to bed with her. The moment instantly turns ridiculous as she hands out knickers for the audience to throw at her in enthusiastic passion.

She balances natural charm with self-deprecating honesty, which make us instantly warm to her. She’s the kind of person you want to hang out with. Someone you might meet in a club bathroom on a night out and follow around, desperate to be her friend.

She welcomes the audience into her life, without shame. Well, almost without shame. There’s a moment where she tells a particularly blue anecdote and hides behind the stage curtain so we can’t look at her as she tells it. Of course, that makes everyone like her more.

Her quips, observations and wordplay are masterful but it’s her physical comedy which really has the audience in stitches. Whether that’s the humiliation of a Go Ape harness, how she’d look with a bumhole for a mouth, her jaunty pre-sex ritual, or the struggles of standing up on the top deck of a bus, she nails each one with gusto.

She is unafraid to poke fun at situations she finds herself in, but is never cruel to herself. Her impression of an internet troll who attacked her physical appearance is strangely empathetic, and with that, hilarious.

The show is not without some serious emotional punch. It’s an exploration of confidence and self-esteem and a couple of her revelations are heart breaking.

But no moment is in there without purpose. After a national tour and run at the Edinburgh Fringe, the show is a well-oiled machine. Each passing aside comes back around, nothing is unnecessary. The show, as well as being very funny, is an artfully constructed piece of work.

Tag Archives: Amy Gledhill

MAKE ME LOOK FIT ON THE POSTER

★★★★

Soho Theatre

MAKE ME LOOK FIT ON THE POSTER

Soho Theatre

★★★★

“She’s the kind of person you want to hang out with. Someone you might meet in a club bathroom on a night out and follow around, desperate to be her friend”