Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Bella Humphries inhabited a very different world when she started writing Square Peg. The title suggests she’d planned to focus on how she was adapting to living in a remote part of North Wales.

One of seven children from Swindon, she’d moved her entire life from London to live with her boyfriend. She’s a vegan city girl; his family have a dairy farm. She loves Welsh pride, particularly in comparison with a certain type of flag-waving Englishness, and has some fun snippets to share about the change of lifestyle.

But then, earlier this year, her boyfriend ended their relationship because she wasn’t ready to have children, and she moved back in with her parents. After telling us about this record-scratch moment, she changes course, and the hour starts to focus on her brutal medical condition.

Humphries, a charming presence with one of the most smiley voices in Edinburgh, has been going through hell every month, thanks to premenstrual dysphoric disorder. It’s as if her body is allergic to herself, which makes it feel as if her blood is on fire, and she regularly feels suicidal and psychotic.

She quite rightly bemoans the inadequate medical treatment available for this debilitating condition, suffered by a fifth of women. The solutions -other than full hysterectomy - are the equivalent, she says, of the school nurse putting a wet paper towel on a broken bone. And she even had to go private to get a diagnosis. 

It’s a fascinating and persuasive rallying call from a very likeable performer, but there’s not quite enough comedy in this show at this stage. 

Incidentally, Humphries would make an excellent lead in a romantic comedy. Casting agents take note.

Review date: 18 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Ashley Davies