Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

To her feigned consternation, Esyllt Sears has a lot of Welsh people in today, and they’re a vocal contingent. Although she jokes that she came to Scotland to get away from her compatriots, she makes a lot of appeals to them throughout the hour, and seems to be a comedian very much embedded in her national culture. Elis James, watch your back.

Sears introduces herself as a mum of two, recently arrived in her forties, a little anxious as so many of us are, and obsessed with her death. She’s oddly certain she knows how she will die (strangled on holiday) but not how the news will be received. Will her parents send in the sexiest photo available for use on the telly? How can they be trusted with any decision if they still have a carpeted bathroom in 2022? 

Speculating on her demise brings out a narcissistic side that’s slightly at odds with a subtle whimsical streak. ‘I’m put on edge by cats that look like dogs, and dogs that look like cats,’ she says. ‘I’ve never actually seen an example of this.’

Her jokes and especially her delivery verge on generic a little too often, but there are some good devices here. She’s pre-written a press release to announce her own passing, which is a fun and effective way to lay down some biographical info early doors while drawing on her background in PR. More could have been done there, and with the gimmick of the will at the end of the show.

She touches on the introduction of Aberystwyth’s first escalator (in 2012! Up but not down!) and the perils of talking dirty in Welsh, but as in other areas you find yourself wishing that the writing went a little deeper, or hit a little harder. ‘Am I giving off motherly vibes? I think my kids wish I would.’ There’s the beginning of something juicy there, but it feels like she’s holding back.

• Esyllt Sears: Absolutely Not is on at Just The Tonic at The Tron at 1pm.

Review date: 15 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Tim Harding