Susie McCabe has a style similar to Kevin Bridges, who she has supported on tour. Her show is a relatable and hilariously funny hour where she talks about being too old for festivals and too working class for valets.
McCabe opens with her experience of getting married and staying at a five star hotel, because as she says, when you’re working class and Scottish you need an excuse to live lavishly for a few nights in fear of being called a Tory for self-indulging. During this hotel stay, McCabe describes feeling out of place in such a posh environment, and goes into the sort of hysterical detail about her experience that keeps you gripped as she is such a natural story teller.
McCabe tells anecdotes of her school friends’ group chat and the awkward moment when someone adds an outsider to the group. It’s in this group chat where her friends decide to stage an intervention for her after she says she isn’t drinking for one night.
McCabe’s show has a theme of feeling out of place in a different environment. She explains she was invited to have a drink with a friend in London who works in civil service, and the friend suggests a drink in the Westminster bar inside Parliament. At first McCabe is confused, but once a few drinks on the terrace start to go to her head, she becomes a menace.
McCabe’s natural warmth makes her a joy to listen to, and the fact that she had a heart attack a few weeks before the Fringe began but decided to continue on with the show, proves how much she loves her craft.
Susie McCabe: Merchant of Menace, Assembly George Square – Studio 3, 19:45, Aug 18-25
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/susie-mccabe-merchant-of-menace
