post by @nataliagresty
Seen by Natalia at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 15th of August 2024

3 stars – a silly take on manifestation and self-help culture

No matter how much we try to avoid it, we’re living in an age of constant incoming stream of spiritual and relationship advice, self-help, self-love and pop-psychology coming at us particularly from our (broken beyond repair!) Instagram and TikTok algorithms. Manifestation is one of the easiest solutions to the impossible problem, and thus very popular, and Erin Farrington, the US comedian and member of the Stamptown group, presents us her 60-minute satirical take on the matter. 

Think Better: Manifesting Money, Real Estate and Hot People is a workshop on manifestation with bits of tarot reading and meditation. There’s quite a lot of crowd work too, but due to the rather personal questions that Erin asks, drags a bit too long and stops being punchy. Erin laughs along slightly nervously and squeezes plenty of self-deprecating jokes into her performance, which saves it to a point. 

Overall, it’s good observational comedy with all the props you would imagine, including palo santo, Persian rugs and candles of all shapes, but the energy in the room remains low and Erin unfortunately mirrors that. We don’t find out much about her manifestation journey either, and that’s maybe on purpose, not to show cracks in her craft, but it could have added another layer to the show.

31st July – 25th August; 5.40 pm

Running time: 60 minutes

Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker Two

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/erin-farrington-think-better-manifesting-money-real-estate-and-hot-people 

Group: Stamptown
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinfarrington