Welcome to an hour of fantastic water cooler moments with ex civil servant, natural bon viveur and Grade A confidante Sue Gray. She’s a proper good gas! And the perfect showcase vehicle for the talents of comic, actress and writer Emma Sidi.
The stage is simple, dressed as an office area complete with desk and accoutrements plus the ubiquitous water cooler. You don’t need to know who Sue Gray is in real life as there’s a generous amount given up front of the show, outlining her role in the recent Conservative scandal Partygate, as well as various biographical titbits – both true and false – scattered throughout the hour going into greater detail. Sidi has managed to construct a delightfully chummy intimacy from a fictionalised character that allows both outlandishly wild flights of surreal fancy and cleverly considered commentary on the recent and current political climate and events. And every single bit of it is entertaining.
It’s well paced with timely breaks from the regular narrative for literal water cooler breaks, showcasing some silent clowning genius in action, as well as a couple of fabulous spinwheeling tangents into a sub story involving tech problems and sexual intimacy told through the “emotional buffer” of spoken Spanish in a raucous style of European telenovela.
This show is the latest in the historical progression of comic art imagining the back offices of power, and stands up well within that oeuvre. Somebody give this woman a television commission so everyone can see it.
Emma Sidi Is Sue Gray, 16:15, Pleasance Courtyard – Upstairs, Until August 25 (except 7, 14 & 17)
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on#q=%22Emma%20Sidi%20Is%20Sue%20Gray%22
Victoria Nangle
