It’s 2014 and owl necklaces and bad boys are in. Twentysomething Laurie Magers has bagged both of them. The only problem is that one of them is in prison. (Hint, it’s not the owl.)
Laurie Magers’ Fringe debut is a sparky, polished, at times uncomfortable slice-of-life narrative in which she looks back to the time in her own past when she fell hard for an incarcerated multi-felon.
The American actor and comedian both dramatises her past and reflects on it in the first person. Oh, and she even throws in family photos and a spot of animation. The result is compelling. This is the kind of show the Fringe is made for.
Magers is pulling back the curtain on her own life here and some painful memories are exposed. Embarrassing ones too. Like the time she tried to smuggle drugs into prison via an intimate part of her anatomy. Then there is her recreation of having phone sex with her imprisoned boyfriend whilst inside a walk-in fridge. Let’s just say this is not a show for all the family.
What it is a considered and potent exploration of “love addiction”, self-deception and misogyny that at times will make you laugh and then gasp in horror almost in the same breath.
Magers sells it well. She incarnates both the bouncy, deluded 24-year-old she was and the rueful,more experienced older woman she is now. The reward is she’s now in a position to tell her story. It’s one worth hearing.
Do You Accept These Charges? Pleasance Courtyard Below, 3.10pm, until August 24
