C’est La Bea/Don’t Swim With Killer Whales
Smock Alley Theatre
***
Few things are unforgiveable at the Fringe. But a show starting at 7pm and running until 9.25pm, 45 minutes more than its 100-minute slot, is difficult to justify.
Kildare-native Aisling Bea is first up. Her familiar comedy has earned praise here and in Britain, and last year she won the Gilded Balloon Award at Edinburgh. Bea's strength is in her likeability: in fact, everything hangs on it. The old references of differences between the English and the Irish, nostalgia for country discos, and Irish mammies' obsession with death are here in abundance. Like her beloved hip-hop, her flow is perfect, but the material, while crowd-pleasing, is remarkably flat. Sometimes the rising star doesn't necessarily shine the brightest.
In the second half, James Walmsley, the frontman of Dead Cat Bounce, crackles with brilliant gags and charisma, bringing an unexpected tenderness to his rock'n'roll stand-up.
Ends Sept 10
