ComedyFeaturedSouth West

BRIGHTON FRINGE: All Change – Pauline Erye : Sweet Venues: Werks 2

Reviewer: Simon Topping

Pauline Erye is in a pickle; The youngest for four children and always the baby of the family, she finds herself all grown up and doesn’t quite know how to handle it. Part of Gen X, caught between the financially secure Baby Boomers and the self-entitled Millennials, Eyre has become part of the Sandwich generation, those people bringing up children and caring for elderly parents at the same time. All she ever wanted to be was a lady, just like her mum, an ambition which she is gloriously failing at.

The piece takes the audience through the performer’s mid-life crisis and switches back and forth from her childhood, watching Wimbledon with her siblings, squeezing on the sofa, and cramming into the family car to the modern-day dealing with warring twins, a husband of 27 years who has decided to become a Quaker, an elderly mother with Alzheimers and the night sweats brought on by the menopause.

Reminiscent of Lucy Porter in delivery style, Eyre is a confident and likeable performer. She holds her crowd well and revels as the room groans at her intentionally cheesy puns. Switching between high mirth and poignant moments nicely, there is a constant stream of laughter as she talks about “the change”. There are also a couple of funny parody songs we are encouraged to join in with, that are entertaining.

All Change is the stand-up’s first solo show and is an engaging insight into her life and the events that have shaped her along the way. It’s an unconventional love letter to her family, and in particular her mother, with who she shared a deep closeness and many touching and funny moments. It’s an uplifting watch with plenty of giggles.

Reviewed on 17th October.

The Reviews Hub Score

Heartwarming Funniness

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