FRINGE REVIEW: “Isabelle Farah: Irresponsabelle”

Isabelle Farah: Irresponsabelle – Venue 8: Assembly George Square – The Box – 3.45pm

I DON’T normally review comedy, but felt the need to support comedy acts after some oaf decided that adults were unable to decide for themselves what they wished to hear and see at the Fringe by banning comedian Jerry Sadowitz’s show.

Isabelle Farah is a talented comedian and has the ability to draw her audience into her world with fast delivery and, more importantly, threading a theme throughout her performance. The thread in this show is the life of a woman post-20s and her desire to become a “Girl Boss” with all the status that goes with that, including pay.

There are some well observed quips about how each of the rungs of the promotional ladder are greased with platitudes. Titles offered as promotion, an American quirk that increasingly appears here in the UK, the title of “vice president” scattered around so widely as to be meaningless. But to even get to boast of that title on her business card the Girl Boss must “Work Harder. Look Cuter. To be paid less.”

The flipside to achieving the status of Girl Boss is the role of females within the workplace to offer pastoral care to those colleagues that demand that care. The show is not a political commentary but a well observed and humorous look at the plight of aspirant Girl Bosses in the quagmire that is office politics and inter-relationships.

Farah’s delivery is fast and quite pub-like as she, microphone in hand, wanders the stage making eye contact as her staccato delivery ensures the audience has to keep up with the narrative. Towards the end I felt the tempo of the delivery changed and she finished on a shaggy dog story, which was a shame as I missed her fast delivery from earlier in the show. All-in-all, a pleasant way to spend a mid-afternoon at the Fringe.

THREE STARS

Get the full details about the show here.

Plus, read more reviews on Scottish Field’s Fringe pages.

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