Opening the show, Grace Campbell angelically walked on the backing of Amazing Grace. However, fans of the comedian know this is a short-lived act and she quickly launched into her signature personal and provocative style.
Seven years after her Edinburgh Fringe debut, Campbell returns to Teviot, this time filling its largest venue: the grand Debating Hall. The shows premise centres around her receiving unsolicited feedback from a male comedian. Off the back of this, Campbell pledged to be more relatable to take us through her “mundane” day. This creates a clever backdrop for an hour of everything but mundanity.
As we journey through her day, every time she attempts to do something mundane it descends into side splitting chaos; from failed trips to the lido, to getting drunk at a friends child’s birthday party. She offers the audience hilarious musings on her thoughts of aging, feminism, and dating. At one point in the show, she discusses an experience she had with a stalker who followed her around on her last tour. Frankly telling us how scary it was but how culminated in her breaking up with her boyfriend after reflecting that he would never go as far as the stalker to prove his dedication.
She candidly discusses mental health, telling us stories of her late in life ADHD diagnoses and her experience with panic attacks. I particularly enjoyed her recounting of an instance of an attack on the Paris metro and her attempts to work through it, unsuccessfully asking some teenage girls for assistance who ended up critiquing her appearance instead.
While much of her show is highly relatable to young women, you could see in the diverse audience that everyone was enjoying themselves. As her first time performing the show at parts she stumbles but expertly plays this off making the audience laugh even more and working it into her self-deprecation.
She closed the show tying the whole set nicely back to the start, highlighting not just her comedic prowess but her incredible intelligence, proving without doubt she did not need the feedback and women should not be discouraged by older men’s opinions. This show offers a great opportunity to see the fast-rising comedian owning the stage and truly embody her unapologetic, confident self.
The Lady Is A Tramp is running until 30 August at Gilded Ballon Teviot. Buy tickets here
Image provided by Underbelly for press use.
