Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

This is a lovely show, heartfelt and funny, with funny triumphing. The whole audience was really into the story of Lucy Frederick’s recent nuptials – and a couple of punters were at pains to tell the comic on the way out that it was their favourite thing ever. I could see their point.

Frederick has shaped herself into a large, funny, full-on character who should have her own sitcom when the ‘slightly posh, slightly awkward bird’ genre needs a refresh – if it doesn’t already. She probably has one ready to go. 

The stand-up presents herself as a comical mix of Adele and Hyacinth Bucket, beautifully turned-out in hectic garden party pink with a floaty veil. But there are enough understated digs at herself, attributed to the audience’s inner monologue, that imply whatever lightly mocking thoughts we might have about her, she’s already heard a thousand times worse. Her energetic confidence has been hard-won. On getting married, she acts the incredulity she imagines the audience experience, gesturing at ‘this face’ and ‘this body’ without actually saying it.  

 Friendly and inclusive, Frederick romps through this story of getting ready for the big day, loving every minute of the planning, and dealing honestly with the stress of buying a wedding dress (or any dress) if you’re not fairy princess thin. A bespoke creation is the answer, but what happens when you end up hating it?  

She’s endearingly honest about being overdramatic and overthinking, and uses the ‘silly old husband’ trope to credit him with hauling her back from despair. She’s excellent at putting characters in your mind – the posh, deaf grandparents, the opinionated friends, the snide fashionistas – and portraying herself as an only child who finds being pitched into a ginormous, loud family all a bit much. She wants to belong but not be engulfed. The scenes she describes and the wedding photo epiphany (you have to see it) take you from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Her energy doesn’t flag and she sharpens her focus and performance throughout. So she grows from loud, possibly dyspraxic cartoonish big girl, on the receiving end of unsolicited ‘helpful’ dieting suggestions, to a gracious, calm acceptance of self that doesn’t need a certificate of approval from anyone else.  

The show is exuberant, kind, blasts you with genuine positivity and is loaded with guffaw-worthy moments. And you may find it packs an unexpected emotional punch, too.

• Lucy Frederick’s Big Fat Wedding is on at Gilded Balloon Patterhoose at 3.40pm

Review date: 12 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Julia Chamberlain