A tirade of a fever dream of insomnia comes full blast from Lavoipierre, delivering a tapestry of random nighttime absurd torments that play with the surreal nature of two in the morning half-awake flights of fancy. This blessed marriage of the surreal and real is hypnotising from start to finish, and slaps a smile across faces for the entire duration.
Surely more than any one brain can process, Your Mother Chucks Rocks And Shells is a remarkably well constructed show that works hard to give the impression of half-formed ideas interrupting each other – with the regularly paced punchlines and laughs placed with the skill of a seasoned pro. Intersecting and weaving between inner monologues that tease, flirt and lead astray from the desired sleep, to the blue light of the internet and inspired left-field Google-searches, this is both Lavoipierre’s own sleepless night and one that is universally relatable.
Of course the subjects she flits through are the meat of this show, and so plentiful they could almost be an assault were they not so varied and colourfully entertaining. Tangents off of tangents lead her dreaming mind to re-cast the demon from The Exorcist into other cinematic classics, pulling at that thread into a dizzy hysterical sleepless light-headedness. A number of insomnia treatments are explored with varying degrees of parody and full-bodied humour, Laviopierre drawing the room along with her through (mis)guided meditation and gratitudes. It’s a lovely poke at the wash of well meaning ‘advice’ and ‘help’ that fills the internet and a giddy head.
The pace is, in parts, relentless. But it is also entrancing and sympathetic, honest in its absurdism, and entertainingly eloquent. And even has some new suggestions to help a passing insomniac.
Underbelly George Square – The Wee Coo, 16:20, 3-27 August 2023 (except 14th)
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/ange-lavoipierre-your-mother-chucks-rocks-and-shells
