Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: BITCH | Seating Plan | Wummy + more

Pleasance Dome (Venue 23) until 25 August

In an excoriating contest of power and gender, BITCH dramatises the precise moment when a joke stops being funny.

Marty Breen plays two characters who engage in a battle of wills and wit. One beseeches the world from a self-destructive cabaret universe, and the other is a stand-up comic, for whom Breen drags up using nothing but a blacklight and a backwards cap.

With direction by Jeda de Brí, and original music and sound design by Breen, the show honours the viewpoints and experiences of both characters.

The story itself is disguised, inferred only by clues in the comedy sets, which are full of red flags – the Salem Witch Trials is likened to “a girls night gone wrong” and finding internet content for men is like playing “right-wing whack-a-mole” – and character names in songs.

As the narratives overlap, what follows is two sides of a story of domestic violence. The script draws attention to the horrifying inconsistencies that reveal themselves in the world after abuse (like how the word ‘therapist’ is an amalgam of ‘the rapist’), so that sometimes Breen seems to be caught somewhere in-between victim and perpetrator.

The story becomes a trick coin or trap door – flipping or falling, she could be calling from a bridge burning between the two characters as they exist on their separate sides of the stage.

Breen makes a craft of the cusp, the punchline is her tightrope, and each scene is suspended over a gap in the world only we seem to see or understand.

It is a work of rage, fear and compassion, as both characters appear to resent the body they were born into (the stand-up comic doesn’t identify as a man “because men have a bad rep at the moment” and the cabaret artist observes her body, and associated gender identity, with danger), and BITCH turns tropes like ‘she was asking for it’ and ‘can’t you take a joke?’ on their heads.

Finally, in an all-important and empowering twist of events, Breen also shows domestic abuse survivors that it is possible to forgive oneself and look forward.

Josephine Balfour-Oatts

Seating Plan ★★★

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Venue 24) until 25 August

Of all the ingredients which make a good romcom, a central couple who the audience actually cares about and wants to see together is essential. In this regard light-hearted two-hander Seating Plan, which has been picking up a bit of buzz and some healthily-sized audiences this Fringe, nails the brief.

George Airey is handsome and dopily charismatic David, who finds himself placed at the furthest-away table at the 25th birthday of his ‘football friend’ Will, where he’s seated alongside Izzy Radford’s Mavis, whose head is in the clouds.

If Mavis really is a dear childhood friend of Will’s partner Emma, who’s also celebrating her birthday, then David wonders why she’s found herself dumped out here in the furthest reaches?

The pair resolutely fail to hit it off, but their mismatched individual charisma creates a spark. In a romcom device familiar from When Harry Met Sally and One Day, they meet up at similar parties over the years, their desire for one another growing and ebbing as they keep failing to connect at the right time.

The scenario’s somewhat forced and formulaic, but writer Radford creates brisk, funny dialogue, and her own antsy, droll, quick-witted turn as Mavis must be one of this August’s finest comedy performances.

David Pollock

Wummy ★★★

Just the Tonic Legends (Venue 27) until 24 August

What’s a wummy, mummy? Why, it’s a wannabe yummy mummy, darling or, to put it more bluntly, an entirely unrealistic yet insidiously attractive aspiration for a school teacher in Acton living in shared accommodation.

Much of the comedy in writer/performer Charis King’s gentle yet chaotic satire lies in the sheer gulf between her protagonist’s dreams and reality. Within the first minute of the show, she has mimed marriage, pregnancy and new motherhood but the world she senses is just within reach is entirely self-centred, not child-centred.

King fluently plays an array of supporting characters from her chippy social worker flatmate to various potential partners to posh pal Isabella who floats through life, occasionally allowing a tantalizing glimpse into her privileged realm of manifestation retreats - an extortionate fake-it-til-you-make-it exercise which is so obviously not what King needs that it’s some relief and no surprise at all when she is rumbled as a lowly normal human being and eventually realizes the error of her ways and her obsession with lip filler.

Wummy is well observed and easy entertainment with some light audience participation, because there’s only so much that one actor can embody. King keeps those balls in the air with swan-like industry throughout.

Relatable and talented, maybe she has it all already, or at least as much as she needs.

Fiona Shepherd

Cara and Kelly are Best Friends Forever For Life ★★★

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 25 August

This piece takes us firmly into the early 2010s, when iPhones were replacing BlackBerrys, selfies were all the rage, and McBusted had just announced their tour.

It explores the intense bond between two teenage girls who, like many at that age, believe they'll be best friends forever. But the arrival of a refugee at their school forces uncomfortable truths to the surface. Racism emerges through ignorance, shortsightedness and privilege, exposing deeper flaws in their friendship and upbringing.

Scarlett Stitt brings vulnerability to Cara, an outwardly harsh character who’s deeply affected by family struggles. Isobel Thom’s performance as Kelly is both funny and moving. Importantly, the pair are not victims, they are responsible for the trouble that unfolds.

Most striking is how the play denies the audience the comfort of tidy justice. The girls never truly face the consequences of their actions. While this slightly stretches believability, it makes the piece more unsettling and thought-provoking.

Mojola Akinyemi’s writing does not flinch. The tone is bold and unafraid to tackle controversial subjects. It is full of unfiltered, brutal language, charged with emotion that is deliberately unsettling.

The script does however feel slightly unbalanced. The final fifteen minutes are purposefully tense but end in a rushed and forced conclusion that lacks the weight of what comes before.

Suzanne O’Brien

22: Brooke's Time Space Sequins ★★

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 33) until 23 August

Resolutions don’t have to begin on New Year’s Day, which is the premise behind Brooke's half-party, half-campaign that encourages a fresh start on the 2nd of February. Her performance blends rapid storytelling and stand up, packed with musical theatre and Taylor Swift quotes that may only appeal to diehard fans.

There are flashes of fun, a few good punchlines, and Brooke’s infectious energy adds a certain charm. However, keeping up is challenging and the delivery feels more like rambling or stream-of-consciousness than a structured piece with purpose.

It includes positive messages about new beginnings, self-determination and crazy stories, but it doesn’t quite land as effectively as it could have.

Suzanne O’Brien

Bitchfight ★★

theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall (Venue 53) until 22 August

In this amiable two-hander, a woman watching Strictly is interrupted by the arrival of a friend she hasn’t seen in years wearing a wedding dress.

“Why are you here?” she repeatedly asks, and through the subsequent chitchat in front of the telly, we eventually find out.

It’s a likable but low-stakes piece that’s well acted but suffers from insufficient drama to keep the story flowing as fast as the offer of a cup of tea. Interesting observations over the way relationships fade if they aren’t fed finally emerge before the former friends go their separate ways.

“Bye.”

Sally Stott

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