Having taken a five year break from the Fringe to raise a daughter, Perrier nominee Sarah Kendall is back with a brand new show. Stevie Martin reviews.
Sarah Kendall has, unfortunately, attracted the complete wrong crowd. Whether this happens every night, or whether it's a one off, isn't clear but either way, who let all the elderly folk in? It's not that some of them don't love it, it's that she's definitely got too much edge for a fair few of the old dears. Sure, she talks about motherhood, but only between pole-dancing, using a broom as a misguided symbol of masculinity and being asked by a fruit-stand worker whether she'd like to have relations with a banana.
Just listing those topics doesn't do Kendall justice, because she isn't a feminist comedian, she doesn't bang on about kids, and while she does talk a lot about sex, it's well executed and sharp. None of that "ooh isn't it awful being a woman" thing; every time she approaches this there's often a neat sidestep into slightly more leftfield direction. Even if it goes where you expected, she pulls it off thanks to an immaculately measured performance. Calm and quiet, while equally liable to explode, and never mis-timing a furrow of the brow or a widening of the eyes, everything is done at exactly the right point to maximise the effect.
She reworks kids books and retells stories of nightmare auditions to a sometimes bemused crowd, but they're bemused only because they expected something sweet, or maybe Sarah Millican, and they're not getting either. What they're getting is that rarest of gems; old-fashioned observational stand-up with no gimmicks or tricks, done very, very well.
The front row is split between twenty somethings absolutely killing themselves, and some elderly chuckles. By the end, everyone's warmed to her because Kendall's secret weapon is her versatility. Her range of anecdotes appeal to everyone, just not at the same time. The conclusion works to bring everyone together, and there's nobody left cold by the time she finishes.
The only criticism, if pushed, is that the motherhood angle doesn't do her justice. Not that joking about motherhood is a bad thing, but it's been (unfairly, as Kendall proves) given a bit of a stigma which leaves the first ten minutes a little shaky as everyone wonders whether this will be another one of "those shows". Don't worry, it isn't. If you get the chance, jump at this ticket.
Stevie Martin 
Sarah Kendall: Get Up, Stand Up will be at the Pleasance Courtyard in Edinburgh, from 1st-27th August, at 8:30pm.
More on Spoonfed
Back to the 'Burgh: an interview with Sarah Kendall
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