post by @nataliagresty

Seen by Natalia at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 16th of August 2024

3 stars – vulnerable, honest and eclectic

Jessie Cave, a well-versed, deadpan and brutally open comic, delivers another hour of just that: her usual dry, raw, personal, dark comedy. She’s famous for it by now, and not only for her comedy, podcasting, acting and bestselling novel, but also thanks to her public, on-off-on-again relationship with fellow comic, Alfie Brown and their Catastrophe-sque timeline, where a one night stand turns into a baby and then some (three more, to be exact).

Cave has returned to the Fringe with a solo show after a few years and decided to jam-pack it with bits of shadow play, improv, stand-up, Shakespeare and character comedy impersonating herself and Alfie at couples’ therapy. Oh, and there’s her daughter singing a song at the very end of the performance, leaving us with a lump in our throat as we walk out. It’s a real rollercoaster of mixed, nuanced feelings; there’s pain, joy, there’s her social anxiety and awkwardness, there’s loss, there’s silliness, there’s lots of resilience too. Comedy is only part of the picture, which some critics could object to, but in our post-Nanette age, and for anyone who already knows Jessie, it doesn’t come as a surprise.

Jessie is self aware, often snapping out of character and informing us that “This is where I usually lose some of the audience”, or “It’s the last puppetry bit, I promise, the easiest exit is down on the right”. She can clearly make us laugh but often chooses not to. However, it remains unclear as for what exactly did she wants to evoke in us then.

31st July – 25th August; 12.45 pm

Running time: 60 minutes

Venue: Assembly Roxy – Upstairs

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/jessie-cave-an-ecstatic-display 

Group: Show and Tell with Curtis Brown

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessiecave