one4review | On 10, Aug 2022

This show starts at a solid ‘good’ and improves immediately from there to achieve ‘excellent’ about half way through. Material and presentation aside, this is almost entirely due to Ms Coates’ skill in grabbing the audience by the emotions and pulling us in. She’s very, very good at recounting, not just in words but in body language and facial expression, how it felt to be in the situations she describes and to elicit that from the audience in sympathy with her. You can’t help but like someone when you’ve vicariously cringed at their being a ‘weird kid’.

This isn’t, Ms Coates points out from the outset, a raunchy show. It is a series of stories from Ms Coates experience, strung coherently together along a central theme and delivered with conviction and enthusiasm. The upward trajectory from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ was also present in the style: starting with some good but fairly generic stand-up to get us going, Ms Coats slid seamlessly into her own engaging style of storytelling. She’s got great stage presence and delivery, her material never sounding rehearsed, but remaining fluent. Well performed funny from a lovely person.

Reviewed by Laura

Pleasance Courtyard
18:05