Josie Long, three-time Edinburgh Perrier Comedy Award nominee, begins her exciting new stand-up show, Now Is the Time of Monsters, prancing to and fro across the Pleasance Dome auditorium.
As she does so, she holds up hand-drawn images of fantastical looking creatures, presenting them to individual audience members while calling out bizarre, comically Latinised names: “Human-sized proto-rat!”, “Megafauna!” and “Siberian Unicorn!”
Although this energetic opening does initially seem a little unusual coming from such a well respected comedian, who frequently appears on the BBC, all is soon revealed.
Over the course of the next hour, Long deftly weaves these prehistoric oddities into an incredibly poignant, yet still hilariously entertaining, meditation on the anxieties of modern life.
In describing the burrowing prowess of ancient sloths, Long evokes the failings of modern governments in addressing war and climate change. Meanwhile, her daughter’s fascination with a giant “Transit van-sized wombat” becomes a springboard for a tender and relatable exploration of the challenges of motherhood, and the mounting pressures of turning 43.
Now Is the Time of Monsters is a comic triumph from beginning to end. Rich in imagination, packed with laughs, and even offering a very useful tip about the magical preservational powers of silt.
Yet, what truly makes this show a must-see at this year’s Fringe Festival is its quietly persistent thread of hope. Amid vivid images of apocalyptic futures, idyllic pasts, mutant whales, and communist children, Josie Long returns — again and again — to two strangely comforting mantras: first, “the weather is changing”, and second, “in these troubled times…anything can happen”. It is a testament to Long’s singular genius that she can make the potential end of the world feel not only funny and bearable, but oddly uplifting and optimistic.
Josie Long: Now Is The Time of Monsters is running until 24th August at 19pm at The Pleasance Dome.
Buy tickets here.
Image by Brid Kirby, provided to The Student as press.