one4review | On 16, Aug 2016

There’s a lot going on in this show. Smurthwaite playing a man (Mylo Standards (!)) playing Smurthwaite doing the horrific jokes she’s witnessed being appreciated in mainstream comedy clubs. A man wearing a nappy on stage. Some typical ‘laddish’ ‘jokes’ and ‘banter’ alienating the audience in a really surreal way: you know it’s being done for effect, but if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t find that kind of thing funny, it just isn’t funny, and that is the effect it’s going for…

I didn’t laugh a huge amount during this show, but I did really enjoy it. It’s got good pace, like a sustained long distance run, rather than a series of short sprints. It’s worth staying the course for, even if the start was a little awkward, when you’re still trying to work out what you’re supposed to do with the show. Which is think about it, rather than laugh. Misogyny isn’t funny.

Ms Smurthwaite is an engaging performer, whatever she’s doing (including that last act). She’s intelligent, has interesting things to say and an interesting, challenging, way to say it. (There’s nothing like a good bit of cognitive dissonance at the Fringe.) A show that continues to improve even after you’ve long left the venue.

Banshee Labyrinth, 19:15

Reviewed by Laura