JUST for the avoidance of any doubt, soup does feature in Irish comedian Alison Spittle’s genial, rather sweet (if sometimes sweary) Fringe show. It’s just that there is so much else swirling around in the broth of comic tangents she offers up that you might be disappointed if all you’re hoping for is a deep dive into the merits of vichyssoise versus Cream of Tomato. That said, the question of whether you eat soup or drink it is raised at one point, so you can’t say the title is misleading.
Otherwise, Spittle’s show takes in the cost of living crisis, her own mental health, being robbed at knifepoint, parasites (both external and internal), Whatsapp groups, the difficulties of making friends as an adult, boyband supergroups, coulrophobia and what it takes to get chucked out of Butlins Minehead. (Conclusion: it might be impossible to get chucked out of Butlin’s Minehead).
All of these orbit around Spittle’s own comic persona, which mixes up bafflement, bemusement and maybe a smidgeon of anger (mostly aimed at landlords) in a colourful dress and an at times bracing honesty.
“I’m a bit of a spiteful person,” Spittle tells us at one point. But really there’s little snark on show here. She draws word portraits of her family that have the bantering familiarity that is simply part of family life. Actually, I’d have been happy for her to just tell us about her relatives for an hour; all the builders and carpenters and eyebrow laminators that make up her extended family.
But Spittle, who co-hosts the BBC podcast Wheel of Misfortune with Kerry Katona, is more ambitious than that, and whilst acknowledging that mental health is now a common theme in comedy circles she manages to make a discussion of her own CPTSD feel funny and fresh and enlightening.
All this and she offers recommendations for other shows to see at the Fringe this year. That’s better value for money than even a can of Heinz Big Soup. Yes, even the chunky veg variety.
Alison Spittle: Soup
Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive), 1.25pm, until August 27(except August 14)
tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/alison-spittle-soup
Teddy Jamieson
