★★★

“it is a compliment to say that this is an uncomplicated hour of comedy”

Fresh, as they say, from the Edinburgh Fringe, Anna Nicholson’s breezy ‘Woman of the Year’ show arrives, touting comparisons to Victoria Wood and Tracey Ullman under the slogan, ‘Character comedy just got competitive’. The format is essentially a showcase for Nicholson’s comedy and vocal talents, pitting four of her comedy creations against each other. To evoke Edinburgh in the austere East End, five round tables are deployed before a shabby proscenium creating a cabaret mood at The Space, and as Kieran Stallard strikes up on an electric keyboard, Anna herself, with help from a prerecorded game show voice, emerges to be Master of Ceremonies.

The first contender is a slightly-too-keen bra saleswoman who, with Joyce Grenfell jolliness, forces her mission of feminine comfort on an audience member with quite the opposite effect. After a quick change of hair and adjustment of skirt length, Geordie glamour vlogger Bianca sashays on to instruct us on the art of the selfie in a breathy dialect all her own. By now the character-creation model is established, with types being familiar enough for audience recognition whilst avoiding over-proximity to existing characters or clichés. The tomboyish female vicar is next. With only a vague Vicar of Dibleyness, she develops a cheerfully vulpine streak as she strives to outdo a local rival. Her competitiveness peaks in a village fete at which she announces a Reverent Baxter piñata in revenge for his success in the bake off. Finally, with an inevitable nod to Catherine Tate, a sex-mad gran totters out to share some affectionate memories of her husband, who died doing what she loved best.

The harder you work at a script the easier it is to watch its performance, so it is a compliment to say that this is an uncomplicated hour of comedy. The characters aren’t overburdened by punchlines or attempts to be clever. The writing support from the show’s Director, Neil Armstrong, and oversight from TV comedy writer James Cary appears to be working well, as does a format which allows performance subtleties to develop, while being robust enough for a beery crowd to follow. Script aside, Nicholson’s portfolio of talents are delivered with slick timing and spirits are kept high by her punchy singing voice and the Variety show vibe of Bobby Goulder‘s near-constant music.

There’s a fine line between fresh and slightly derivative, but Anna Nicholson’s characters are strong enough to suggest she can follow in her heroines’ footsteps, so long as she doesn’t try to do so too closely.

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Love is a Work in Progress

The Space

Reviewed – 2nd October 2018

★★★★

“Rankine hits all the right notes both in her singing but also the pace of the stories”

Love Is A Work In Progress begins in Tara Rankine’s ‘heart’ (a.k.a The Space) and from there we are treated to a one woman show full of storytelling, song, and paradoxes. So many types of love are explored in the show; sexual love, addictive love and love for friends, and Rankine’s metamodernist treatment keeps these stories both dick-joke funny and moving, often at the same time.

The show follows a now-familiar one-woman/man pattern with four major stories stitched together through conversational banter, audience interaction and musical peaks. This platform serves the show well and Rankine hits all the right notes both in her singing but also the pace of the stories as the night turns from gymnastic booty-calls to the moving and obviously personal story of ‘Bunt’ which closes the show.

At times, the show appears to contradict itself only to wiggle out, stealing both meaning and vulgar honesty with it. As we enter the vaulted chamber at The Space, we’re met with Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman” which seems somehow inappropriate; despite the show being so clearly autobiographical and oft-focused on heterosexual love, it’s accessible and entertaining to all with the right sense of humour. With the theme of profound and sacred love, the script is also irreverent, rude and kitsch in all the best ways and ties these two strings together with talent and energy. And, for a show about love and relationships in 2018, the performance doesn’t play to the galleries of #metoo with tales of cruelty but instead examines love as it’s been experienced by Rankine: complex, fathomless but sometimes about the size of someone’s dick.

Love is a Work in Progress seemed itself to be under construction. The scaffolding of a traditional one-woman show stood around both as support and a metal cell. The episodic storytelling makes sense and helps the show build to a climax (no pun intended) but ultimately contains the themes and leaves the audience thirsting for more detail, more coherence and just one more step from the ideas and messages.

But this is a fun show. In fact, if you have a moment, this is an audience-member-eating-a-pie-from-between-her-legs, songs and silly costumes, inflatable-penis fun show. Rankine’s infectious enjoyment and love for her work cannot fail but to draw in each stiff Tuesday-night audience member and reward them with a personal performance that still feels common and accessible. Paradoxes abound and give the performance a strange truthfulness. For those of you who long for genital jokes, followed by a good cry, this is a show you shouldn’t miss.

Anna Nicholson: Woman of The Year

The Space

Reviewed – 3rd October 2018

★★★

“it is a compliment to say that this is an uncomplicated hour of comedy”

There’s a fine line between fresh and slightly derivative, but Anna Nicholson’s characters are strong enough to suggest she can follow in her heroines’ footsteps, so long as she doesn’t try to do so too closely.

Reviewed by Dominic Gettins

Anna Nicholson: Woman of The Year

The Space until 6th October

Previously reviewed at this venue:

Love is a Work in Progress

The Space

Reviewed – 2nd October 2018

★★★★

“Rankine hits all the right notes both in her singing but also the pace of the stories”

Reviewed by William Nash

Love is a Work in Progress

The Space until 6th October

Previously reviewed at this venue: