one4review | On 19, Aug 2018

Anna Nicholson hosts the ‘woman of the year awards’, and plays all four nominees in a theatrical sketch hour. There’s the bra-lady, with surprisingly diverse views on womanhood, the glaikit vlogger name-dropping well-known Edinburgh nightclubs, a horrifyingly needy Reverend, and an elderly lady gleefully delighted with her life of energetic exploits.

Each character appears twice, with a monologue/one-person-sketch of themselves, once to establish them and then to ostensibly accept the nomination and encourage us to vote for them. Alongside this there’s some singing (I rather enjoyed the organist’s revenge) and the occasional bit of audience participation, some of which felt a little like a game show, but which did have excellent payoff later.

The characters are well drawn and disconcertingly neutral; there’s something to like and dislike in all of them and in neither portrayal nor writing Ms Nicholson doesn’t seem to have tried to influence the outcome of the award. From a technical point of view, each character is startlingly individual, far beyond the change from glasses and hair up to no glasses and hair down, and therein lays the delight: I’d utterly believe there were four different people on stage (brilliant piano accompanist aside).

The audience is invited to choose their favourite, and a winner is crowned. All in all, a lovely, enjoyable show.

Reviewed by Laura
Just the Tonic @ The Caves, 16:35
Until 26th