Joanna Neary, or Celia, self-proclaimed housewife and animal lover, presents to an audience at The Assembly Rooms for her 'Toxborough Village Hall Chat Show' in aid of the Animal Hospice. Her show comprises of ramblings on technology, 'jumble items', and stereotyping of the Allsopp-esque homemaker. Along with Celia's generally on point singing, there was accompaniment music from the aptly named 'Centre-Parting Martin'.
Whilst the show was advertised as comedy, I felt it didn't quite perform as such. The wit was lost on me, perhaps as a younger audience member, and the jokes often fell flat. Despite this, the content was largely good, having humorous and theatrical points, in addition to her good vocal abilities.
Being stationary obsessed, Celia expands upon her weird and wonderful collection of items she has gathered from jumble sales. From this love of pens and pencils, to Britpop and Buzzfeed, Neary covers topics from throughout recent history. Speaking fondly of her husband and not so fondly of Centre-Parting Martin, she creates tension and emotion, all the while remaining light-hearted and relatively comedic.
Here, I must take into account the rest of the audience, who were laughing, intermittently I confess, but still more than me. This was perhaps, as mentioned above, due to the target audience having more years on me, however I feel this can't be an excuse at the fringe, where every show should be accessible.
Overall, the performance was entertaining yes, but essentially an average show.
Joanna Neary: Faceful of Issues is on everyday at The Assembly Rooms, (Venue 20) August 12-16th and 18-30th at 19:45. Suitability: 12+. Tickets and more information are available here.
Image taken from: arfringe.com
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