Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

With one phenomenally entertaining anthem to womanhood after another, Flat & The Curves serve up a near-perfect blend of relatable comedy, barnstorming musicality and bold feminist attitude. 

Their show is in the best cabaret traditions: sassy, classy and raunchy, all rolled in sequins and never afraid of a filthy double entendre. All four of them boast commanding West End voices with a heft, clarity and operatic range that can swoop you up in whatever emotion they desire.

Indeed, they are something of a musical comedy supergroup: Frontwoman Katy Baker was one of the Four Femmes On The Thames, Issy Wroe Wright is the producer of Shit-faced Showtime, Arabella Rodrigo – performing while very pregnant – is a musical theatre stalwart who’s led a touring Burt Bacharach tribute, and pianist Charlotte Brooke was named best newcomer at the Musical Comedy Awards a few years back.

Setting out their stall, they explain their approach to the impending hour that celebrates the straight female experience, flaws and all: ‘Instead of burning bras because they cost loads / we’re going to raise our voice until we explode.’ 

The starting points for their numbers are not especially inspired, but their powerhouse execution wows. Tales of drunken hen nights, for example, are a stand-up staple, but here it’s so perfectly reconstructed – from the initial WhatsApp group, through every stage of drunkenness from cheeky shots to glazed-eyes flirting, to waking up with a stranger – and all to a belting tune which morphs into a sombre beat poem when the full horrors hit home the morning after.

Other tracks tackle the unrealistic expectation porn engenders, phone addiction, dating apps, even a trip to Ikea – yes, that old chestnut – which in their talented hands becomes an angry disco number. In her solo, Brooke bucks the thematic trend with a gentle song about ‘being nice, really’, but it’s a brief departure from the norm and we’re soon back to the bawdy. 

And the finale, a fist-pumping paean to the might of the vagina compared to the feeble testicles so often used as a signifier of fortitude, is a fierce, intoxicating and gloriously indecorous celebration that perfectly sums up all they so brilliantly achieve. What a blast!

• Flat & The Curves are at The Stand’s New Town Theatre at 10.35pm tonight.

Review date: 28 Aug 2022
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: The Stand's New Town Theatre