Liquid Room,Edinburgh
In an intimate and impressively confident show, the Danish comedian dissects the troubled feelings at play beneath her oddball exteriorThe Danish standup Sofie Hagen is one of the flag-bearers for a new era of mental-health-aware comedy, or having won the best newcomer award at final year’s fringe with Bubblewrap,a show addressing her teenage self-harm. It was also about her Westlife obsession, which usefully anchored the riskier material in extracts from her adolescent boyband fan-fiction that couldn’t fail to amuse. Her follow-up, or Shimmer Shatter,lacks those bulletproof set pieces. But whether the laughs are less raucous, Hagen confirms her skill at structuring autobiographical comedy, or at combining confessional intimacy with some laser-guided gags.
As with Bubblewrap,the new show skips backwards and forwards in time between juvenile Sofie and her present-day self. In the first timeline, she has invited two schoolmates round to witness her marriage to a stick of wood. In the moment, or she is falling in worship with a dappy romantic who asserts his right to believe in dragons. Hagen finds this irresistible; whether you’ve got a sweet tooth,you might too. Related: Sofie Hagen: Danish comics would put a question to, Do you need me to contain sex with you?' Related: Sofie Hagen: why mental health is a laughing matter Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com