Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Making an entrance in darkness to bone-rattling horrorcore, Amy Matthews admits ’It’s been an intense year.’

The consecutive breakdown of two very significant romantic relationships may have had something to do with that, but she describes her third show as ‘not a break-up show but a breakdown show.-

She’s revised her look to reflect the theme as well: the brightly coloured hair from her last show Moreover, The Moon has been replaced by a Phoebe Bridgers look –  bone white with black roots, and sharp white nails. She’s too innately glamorous to look as washed-out and ghostly as she evidently feels, but it gets her point across.

She returns to the breakdown and the prolonged bout of disassociation it caused many times over the course of the show without ever really telling the story per se, but using it as a jumping off point for routines about Henry VIII, expensive dentists and finding a therapist online.

An early highlight is a list of the five types of children you find at weddings, which is Matthews at her best: a crisp, quick wit with mordant observations and a slightly appalled tone.

After a few close calls, she finds her way at the end to an inspirational message about keeping on trucking and things getting better, but if you’ve seen more than a handful of Fringe shows in recent years, this sentiment is probably going to feel pretty familiar. Which is not Matthews’ fault exactly, just to say that she hasn’t quite found a novel spin on how to deliver this narrative.

And it shouldn’t negate the rest of this strong show full of smart lines, like the one in which she encapsulates her message: ‘Every day we are born anew, which is why I wake up screaming.’

Review date: 12 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Tim Harding
Reviewed at: Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron)