one4review | On 04, Aug 2024

Maeve Press is bouncy and energetic and endears the audience to her the instant she’s on stage. This is a show about her experience of being her, and that a sense of self continually evolves. It’s a really lovely portrayal of how some people relate to the world a little differently, and the frustrating ways institutions sometimes interpret that as somehow being ‘wrong’. Maeve had a perfectly sensible and logical reason for not liking water, if anyone had bothered to find it out.

The show is storytelling more than traditional stand-up, and Maeve has a really lovely technique for adding layers and elements to the story every time it’s re-visited, so we start with what seems like a solid-if-peculiar joke, which garners more nuance and context and power with each call back. It doesn’t feel repetitive though, and it’s subtly done so the eventual denouement is all the more powerful.

Maeve has great presence on the stage and command of the room, and though there’s no audience participation, she does a great job of grabbing us from the start and taking us with her all the way through to the end. A lovely show from an engaging performer.

Reviewed by Laura

Assembly (George Square)
13:20
Until 25th (not 14th)