one4review | On 18, Aug 2023

Any show which starts with the amiable distribution of chocolate fingers is on to a winner. Ms Vero-Martin was also handing out badges and generally being lovely to the audience; excellent techniques in place of traditional crowd work for bringing together and predisposing the audience to enjoy the show. She doesn’t really need the bribery though, the show’s a hoot.

This show could be Ms Vero-Martin’s portfolio, so many skills does she show off. There’re some lovely instances of puppetry, character and sketch work, and a well-controlled bit of improv with a picnic basket. Then there’s the writing: the show is absurd and silly, but it is also carefully crafted, with invisible threads tying things together, which you can’t see until Charlie pings them all towards the end. I lost the thread a little with a couple of the characters; where the first was explicitly linked with the premise of the show, later ones were a bit more obscure; but stick with it, they’re worth it for the call backs, and funny in and of themselves. She does something different with each one, sprinkling hints all over the place, if you know to look for them.

Ms Vero-Martin has a really warm presence on stage which really nicely offsets some aspects towards the end. There’s a lot going on in this show, but Ms Vero-Martin effortlessly pulls everything together and pulls it off with aplomb.

Reviewed by Laura

Underbelly Cowgate
18:55 (1hr)
Until 27th