Geordie character comic Holly Burn is blessed with an imagination bordering on the deranged, says Jay Richardson.
Few comics are better equipped for exploiting the disparity between their grim, cavernous venue and the supposed glamour of showbusiness and high-living than Geordie fantasist Holly Burn. Blessed with an imagination bordering on the deranged, her latest, glittering Fringe production invites audiences to join her in the H Club. The charms of this exclusive establishment aren’t immediately obvious. But that’s part of Burn’s shtick, toying with a crowd’s scepticism by throwing increasingly bizarre scenarios and characters at them.
The bureaucracy of registering new members affords her authority that she gleefully exploits, alternately browbeating and flirting the reluctant into participation, maintaining a constant charade of arbitrary rules and conventions. Chiefly though, it serves as a framework for her to play a series of unhinged characters, the contrived set-up being that they’re supposedly excellent examples of existing members.
These vignettes vary wildly, the most effective, such as a coquettish southern belle dripping with rain and desire, or The Rabbit of Regret maintaining positivity in the face of mounting abuse and encroaching death, are the most explicable and straightforward. The more lightly sketched, exemplified by Patrick, simply repeating how he’s purchased a boat and nothing more, feel too one-note and self-indulgent.
Mind you, two of the hour’s more memorable set-pieces reveal their worth only gradually – Burn’s epic, almost biblical account of the club’s origins and an initiation ceremony that she compels prospective members to undertake. The solemnity with which she conducts this silly formality and her homemade props really boost the laughs.
A capable improviser, unruffled when the mic breaks, Burn can only work with what she’s given. To wring the most out of this eccentric performance, you’re encouraged to fully sign up to its weirdness. With that in mind, a greater sense of reward for participants and encouragement of community amongst the audience might foster a more convivial atmosphere.
Jay Richardson
Holly Burn - The H Club is at Just The Tonic - The Caves at 4:40pm until Sunday 26th August.
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