Who: Sara Barron
What: For Worse
Where: Just the Tonic at The Tron
When: 3.40pm
Why:
It’s worth saying from the get-go that there’s no way Sara Barron’s outstanding show should a) be in a what’s essentially a pub basement, and b) be on at 3.40pm. This is a prime set for a prime location at a prime time. But here we are. Outside there’s a crowd gathered to watch Arsenal play Manchester City. But the champions of England have nothing on this, for this is razor sharp stand-up as Barron riffs on sex – lots of it – marriage and motherhood, poking fun at men generally, her husband specifically, other women, and her own child. She’s scathing, even caustic, but never cruel.
Her show is similar in style to a number of shows here at the Fringe: what feels like a series of good gags hanging together without a necessary purpose. But as the show evolves it’s clear we’re heading somewhere, and the early exchanges are merely setting us up for a hugely pacy second half that bounces along like a jackhammer. The scene stealer is a section where an audience member – today it’s the excellent Joe – takes part in a reading of, shall we say, Barron’s ‘early work’. It’s ten minutes of chaos and proper belly laughs and the whole set up is cleverly and beautifully handled from start to finish.
This is her first show at the Fringe, having spent years writing and working with a New York storytelling collective called The Moth, which has morphed into a brilliant podcast. Yet when she breezes through the aforementioned reading, discusses her son’s first steps towards her and her “two dicks in a day” triumph, you wonder why she hasn’t been doing it all her life. Only those who’ve seen the show will understand this, but it’s a moist discharge of a show. I loved it.
You can buy tickets for For Worse here.
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