THERE are any number of reasons why you might decide to try your luck with a stand-up act at the Edinburgh Fringe. Maybe you are hoping that you will be spotted and a shiny bright new career will open up in front of you. Possibly you just fancy a good excuse to go on the lash for a few weeks in a beautiful city. And there may even be the odd comedian who is hoping it’s a chance to make a bit of money (bless).
Then again you might be Fiona Allen and you’re just looking for a reason to take a break from the rest of your family for a few weeks.
Allen’s show On The Run – because she is – turns out, perhaps surprisingly, to be her Fringe debut. Allen has made a career as an actor (as seen in a soap opera near you) and a voiceover artist. Yet such is her comedy pedigree as a founder member of Channel 4’s cult sketch comedy show Smack the Pony, in which she appeared alongside Sally Phillips and Doon Mackichan, the idea that she hasn’t done stand-up before seems unlikely at the very least.
But it’s true. She started doing open mics in her fifties with the express purpose of getting out of the house after all the other options – yoga, the gym, swimming – turned out to be less than ideal.
And yet, perversely you might think, On The Run sees Allen stick close to home when it comes to material. This is very much the comedy of the domestic. It’s about being a mum and a wife and a sister and a daughter. It’s about the school run, passive-aggressive parents and the danger of running into Rolf Harris while walking the dog (no longer a problem these days, of course).
Does that mean she is playing safe? Not especially. You have to be sure of what you are doing to mine such (over)familiar seams.
And Allen is. On stage she is in control and shows no beginners’ nerves. This is a solid (and that’s not a pejorative) hour of material, confidently performed.
The grace notes come when she offers her note-perfect impersonations of her Spanish mum and her Aussie hairdresser. If anything, she could lean into this more.
As it is, this is a fine debut show. Proof that she should get out of the house more.
Fiona Allen: On The Run, Pleasance Courtyard, 4.15pm, until August 20
