Entertainment

Josie Long and Sarah Kendall stand up reviews

During my last visit to the Edinburgh Fringe the weather was especially miserable, to which I found out that I lack the patience required for being in the rain among a large crowd. Anyway I went to see Josie Long’s show ‘Romance and Adventure’. As the audience poured into the pleasance one the stage was already graced by Miss Josie Long greeting those in first with a ‘pre-show’ including some slow fist pumping to Beyonce’s ‘countdown’, it was a nice welcoming.

With a third fringe nomination under her belt Josie Long is no stranger to the Edinburgh Fringe. Informing us that the title ‘Romance and adventure’ is slightly deceiving instantly makes you like her. Long’s set mainly focused on her turning thirty, what society feels she should have achieved at this age, relationships and politics. She managed to maintain an Infectiously bubbly personality even while portraying the unjust fury of a teen.

The show addresses the the reality of feeling helpless within society regarding our political situation but counter balancing this with some daftness like a creepy silly 1920s voice which happens to stick in your head for a long time. I am sure anyone who saw this show is trying to refrain from using this voice in the most inappropriate environments. The highlight would have to be the performance of what Long wants Ed Miliband to be like if in power as some kind of mobster destroying the demons of the tory government, which was highly entertaining.

Maybe relating more to a younger audience with references like Sophia Grace on Ellen creating a marvellous visualisation, the elders of the crowd may have missed out on a few joyful jokes. Characterising people as goodies or baddies and facing the reality of not another election until 2015, she demonstrates her unwillingness to accept the position the government has put us.

At her show hand drawn programmes were given out and in it are books to read, twitter accounts to follow and newspaper article links.  It’s an endearing and unique touch which I loved reading through. Whether you agree with her political stance or not Long delivered a well structured funny show.

Not unlike Long using her position to voice unfairness within society Australian stand up Sarah Kendall captured the audience with her outrageous and smart observational comedy show ‘Get up, Stand-up’.

Opening with the challenges faced with having a toddler, Kendall fails to go down the standard mothering stories examining different parental techniques and a toddler’s inconsideration of others’ feelings. Adding to this Kendall compares parenting to when she was a child, describing a hilarious sports shop story.

With extreme observational material Kendall highlights gender inequality providing examples of her experiences with sexist casting agents during auditions and the demeaning sexual comments of a male fruit stall owner.

Kendall uses the topic of raising a girl today emphasising how society continues to place women and the differences between men and women, one of her examples being Pitbull’s music video ‘Hotel room service’. Kendall points out the ridiculousness of these videos by redoing the video with a woman as the dominating one. The misogyny that exists in these music videos creating unfortunate ideals about a woman’s role in society that her daughter will learn.

Delivered through a little anger and sarcastic wit Kendall ties this in with a rewrite of the bedtime story ‘The ugly duckling’ illustrating the beauty message it implies. At times a dramatic performance but perhaps over expressing a few of her points draws out her bigger laughs yet Kendall paints a fun picture while wanting a more equal world.

 

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