Writer: Zoe Brownstone
There are many methods that performers may recommend as ways to prepare for a Fringe show. It’s unlikely that getting stranded outside the theatre because a security alert means that large parts of Pleasance are closed, is one of them. But this is what Zoe Brownstone and several other performers had to deal with on the first Tuesday of the Fringe. To her credit, it seemed that Brownstone coped far better with the disruption than large parts of her audience did.
Riding initial silent responses to her questions, she quickly settled in to delivering her routine with an energy and enthusiasm many of those watching seemed to lack. Announcing her nationality as Canadian, from Toronto, so that everyone knew she wasn’t American and they didn’t need to worry that she was packing, she went on to say she now lives in London having arrived in the UK via Amsterdam, a love of rom-coms and an unrequited desire to live a life that could have come straight out of one of them.
This immediately gives you a good idea of who she is, what the subject matter will be, and what style of stand-up you can expect. And Brownstone doesn’t disappoint, with a show that knows who it is aimed at and delivers what they came for. She detours into stories of a drug dealing mother, her parents marriage and divorce, and the problems of being stepmom when the only thing you have in common with your stepdaughter are the names you call her dad, but at all times she stays within the frame of roles and situations that could have come from films she admits to renting in the days of Blockbuster.
The Amsterdam story is where Brownstone steps out more from the movies and stand-up standards and emerges as a storyteller with a good tale to tell. From meeting the best man at her sister’s wedding, through to getting together with him, moving in and their relationship falling apart, she branches out to cover religion, meaningless sex and more, connecting the dots to show who she is and get audiences rooting for her as the story unfolds.
It’s a strong, if not sensational, debut that hints at a long career that will inevitably go on to include the words ‘as seen on Live at the Apollo’.
Runs until August 23 (not 13th) 2024 | Image: Contributed
