Creator and Performer: Lucy McCormick
Director: Ursula Martinez
The lay of the land becomes predictable at the Fringe within a week’s time. With so many acts pitched at a similar tone and timbre, it can be hard to differentiate and dipping into venues can start to feel like a particularly low-stakes (okay, about a tenner’s worth) game of roulette. And then there’s Lucy McCormick. A spectacle from the start, Lucy and Friends is the opposite of samey: a high-octane experience encompassing cabaret, variety, community-building, and something approximating campfire sing-a-long.
After a snappy musical opening, the show is introduced to the audience. We learn that it was initially conceived as a multi-act cabaret and variety show. In its original form, we would have seen McCormick joined on stage by her friends and collaborators for sketches and musical numbers. Utter lack of Arts Council funding, we’re told, is the culprit behind the loss of cast members but, never fear, McCormick is here to press on and complete the show on her own – with a few key moments of contribution from the audience.
‘I’m thinking a lot about fun,’ McCormick announces, and the crowd plays along with her in various cultivated moments: singing along from song sheets, holding a torch as substitute follow-spot during musical numbers. She hands the mic off, too, and scripts are read to allow for the stage to be reset and McCormick to quick-change.
From an initial point of straightforward silliness, things descend into alternating levels of the bizarre. There are nudity and allergen warnings on the tin, after all. McCormick deconstructs – literally at times – cabaret theatre and its formal principles, flirts with comedic structure and the utility of the “callback”, and pokes fun at philosophical theories (Foucault who?) as applied to modern performance. She examines her audience as the audience assesses her, and no one is looking away.
‘Is this art?’ she asks at an early point in the show, interrupting her performance. Her audience responds and McCormick returns to the task at hand, exploring and probing in every corner of the stage and auditorium. A premise and experience worth interrogating, and a show not to be missed.
Runs until 23 August (not 21st) 2023 | Image: Contributed
