According to Cerys Bradley, rugby isn’t a real sport. To play rugby, you just need to down a pint and be able to sing Like A Virgin on top of a chair. This is the solid foundation of Cerys Bradley’s show Sportsperson, which explores Bradley’s non-binary identity and finding their place in rugby (again, not a real sport).
Bradley takes us on a round-trip of their experience with sports. Including an initially negative experience with the term because of their golden older (and taller) brother who happens to be very good at (you guessed it) sports. The show then moves through Bradley’s autism diagnosis, their embarrassment over wearing lycra, and their mother’s questionable suggestion of a sperm donor for their future child.
At times, the show loses its focus, especially during a segment where a goose puppet is brought out onto the stage to pester audience members. Most of the laughs came from anecdotes and sharp one-liners, so it just didn’t match the standard of comedy already set by Bradley. It also got slightly confusing with Bradley remembering they had forgotten some important context that they should’ve mentioned earlier – an easy blunder to make, but one that meant it took a moment for the audience to piece it all together.
There’s a really intimate atmosphere at Bradley’s show, almost as if you’re in the line of a bar queue with strangers striking up a conversation. To be fair, singing Like A Virgin with a bunch of strangers during a show is a legitimate bonding experience.
Sportsperson does come back to a full-circle ending, and a really wholesome one at that. Bradley downs the pint, gets up on their chair, and proudly belts Like A Virgin – they have found their place in their rugby team, they have found their people, and ultimately they have found themself.
Regardless of Bradley’s self-dubbed awkwardness with downing a pint, they sure are pulling those pints and telling some engaging stories in Sportsperson.
Read our interview with Cerys here.
For tickets and more information, visit edfringe.com
0 Comments