09/08/23

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Waiting to go into Traverse One, we hear a voice announcing that most dreaded of terms at the Fringe: technical difficulties. Uh oh! We’re told that there will be a slight delay before tonight’s performance can continue. Should we hang on and see what happens? Or will we leave and try to arrange another date? We decide to stay and thank goodness we do, because otherwise we’d have missed a brilliant show, with a mesmeric solo performance.

Elle (Lauryn Redding) is a straightforward Northern lass, proudly working class and doing nightly shifts at local takeaway, Chips ‘N’ Dips, along with an assorted bunch of colleagues. In her spare time, she’s a songwriter and performer, playing the odd slot at local clubs and hoping that she might take her talents further. And then a new employee arrives at the takeaway. She’s Eve, a girl from the posh side of town, moneyed, privileged and filling in the time before she heads off to university.

But it’s clear from the outset that something has sparked between the two young women, an attraction that quickly develops – and it begins to dawn on Elle what’s happening to her. Is she… falling in love?

Bloody Elle is a fabulous piece of gig theatre, built around Redding’s irrepressible talent. Not only does she deliver a series of memorable songs, her vocals soaring effortlessly over the multi-layered backgrounds she creates using live looping; she also inhabits all the characters in the story, managing to change her persona with the merest physical gesture, a shrug, a wink, a cheeky grin. She’s also a gifted comic, making me laugh at every turn.

This queer love story offers a wonderful celebration of the affecting powers of first love and Redding takes us by the hand and leads us through the experience. Written, composed and performed by Redding, the show is directed by Bryony Shanahan and the lighting effects are by Mark Distin Webster. It’s a lovely, life-affirming and eventually rather poignant production, and you only have a few more chances to catch it in this limited run.

To put it simply, Bloody Elle is bloody fabulous. Go see.

5 stars

Philip Caveney