★★★★
Jessie Cave's new Fringe show is about: Love? Becoming a mother! Exes (all names may not have been changed), and is a stage version of Jessie's illustrations which are currently available in her debut book Love Sick.
Last year I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessie for Glue and having recently bought her book full of, what she calls, 'neurotic doodles about love and life', I was intrigued to see what a Jessie Cave live show looked like.
I knew it'd be quirky and different from your usual comedy show, and if I'm honest I wasn't entirely sure if it would be up my street, but it 100 percent was.
The show explores Jessie getting pregnant after a one-night stand, living with the baby's father, (Alfie, another stand-up comedian), and her fantasy wedding.
I'm not entirely sure which bits of her routine were real or not, but as with any comic there's always room for exaggerating the truth or simply making it up!
Either way, her routine is strong, confident and very well rehearsed. That's evident. Yes at times she's awkward, reveals she doesn't deal well with latecomers and gives up on a shadow puppet show halfway through, but my suspicions are that all those moments are part of the routine. And if they aren't, they should be.
The material is very contemporary, something I particularly enjoyed. She speaks about the love she feels when people favourite her tweets, the anxiety those three dots on iMessage present and accidentally double-tapping on an image of a girl she was stalking on Instagram.
Aside from the material, the show is visually interesting. She uses 2D cardboard masks, shadow-puppets and a delightful collage of other people's Tesco receipts to illustrate her stories.
Jessie is a much more confident performer than I think she gives herself credit for. She had the crowd eating out of her hands yesterday my only regret is not going to see her sooner.
Well done Jessie, a wonderful show and one of my Fringe highlights this year.