Amanda Knox: Cartwheel, Edinburgh Fringe review: 'compelling, but not comedy'

COMEDY

Amanda Knox: Cartwheel ★★

Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14) until 17 August

Everyone’s got an opinion about Amanda Knox, even if they don’t know the details of her case. It began 21 years ago with the rape and murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, in Italy and resulted in the American twice being convicted but eventually being found not guilty of the violent crime.

Rudy Guede, the man found guilty of the killing, served 16 years of his 30-year sentence and has subsequently been charged with assaulting another young woman. From the beginning, the tabloids feasted on “Foxy Knoxy”; more people know her name than his. “I went from being loved by everyone who knew me to being hated by everyone who didn’t – I was like human haggis,” she says.

READ MORE: Edinburgh Fringe: Almost 10,000 people sign petition to axe Amanda Knox as festival bosses defend show

The premise of this show is Knox helping her innocent young daughter understand what happened in an age-appropriate way. Although she achieves this – often using Dr Seuss-style poems – the main thrust of Cartwheel is of Knox reclaiming her story, expressing her justified anger about how she was treated, “slut-shamed and vilified”, what she was robbed of, what it did to her mother (who raised two girls alone) and how people now expect her to be silent.

More than once the 39-year-old repeats and challenges the line often said about herself: “She didn’t do it, but she made it weird,” arguing that even if being caught up in the “manic pixie dream girl age” meant she acted in a way that didn’t come across well, that doesn’t make her guilty.

Enjoying The Scotsman's coverage of the Edinburgh festivals? For just £2 a month you can get unlimited access to scotsman.com plus 2-for-1 Fringe tickets. For details visit www.scotsman.com/subscriptions

It’s a gripping, informative hour, delivered on a set resembling a kid’s nursery and featuring recordings of a child’s voice. The title, Cartwheel, refers in part to reports of her doing a cartwheel in the cells (though she insists she was just stretching between interrogations) and teaching her daughter about life.

But is it comedy? Absolutely not. Yes, there are a few quips and jokes – most of them wordplay on incarceration and one ill-judged gag about the set looking “like a crime scene” – but for 95 per cent of this show the audience are in rapt silence. One is reminded of moments when a tennis player does something amusing on court and everyone laughs: yes, it’s funny compared with sport, but is it funny compared with the craft and talent required to perform comedy?

Amanda Knox is an accomplished narrator and compelling presence, who’s had to deal with excruciating trauma and has every right to tell her story. But Cartwheel is a one-woman show (she’d have got three stars if it was in theatre or storytelling) and has no business being in the comedy section. Ashley Davies

The Scotsman’s arts newsletter is now sent twice a week - subscribe today

Enjoying the Arts & Culture journalism on scotsman.com? Make it easier to find by selecting us as a preferred Google source

Want the latest Scottish headlines sent directly to your phone? Sign up to our new WhatsApp channel here