Laughs and gasps for roots comedy

10 April 2012

Edinburgh's extended-length comedies are the mayflies of the arts world.

They thrive during August, only to be replaced by truncated mortgage-paying club sets when autumn comes knocking. Mandy Knight's Some Of My Best Friends Are Ginger is a rare revival.

First performed in 1994, this piece adroitly knits together character comedy, confrontational stand-up and an allegorical treatise on racism.

The petite, chestnut-hued performer starts out relatively gently, with some offthepeg lewd singleton material. Life is fine, except at weddings when older relatives come up to her and say, "You're next". She has her revenge by saying the same thing to them at funerals.

The ironic bigotry starts to well up as she homes in on her target - those who call themselves titian or auburn. Most comedians die at some point, but few do whole routines about dyeing.

Knight then plays three women on the edge. As a Salford shoe-shop assistant, she explodes when a flip-flop wearer rejects her pumps. She returns sipping champagne as a spitefulThirties deb. Copper-topped female audience members or Big Brother's Tim should hide at the back or they may become part of the show.

There is compulsory male audience participation when a victim has to play Rhett Butler to Knight's Norma Desmondmeets-Baby Jane rendition of Scarlett O'Hara.

But it is the final section that really gives the show its sting. Back in stand-up mode, Knight has built up a head of steam and spews out unashamedly hair-raising lines on subjects ranging from incest to cannibalism.

Half the audience gasps, half laughs. She blows her chance of any L'Orèal sponsorship, but the point is to lay bare how lazy comedy relies on hate.

Some revivals suggest creative bankruptcy, this one is invigorating. Fringe performers should get back to their roots more often.

Some Of My Best Friends Are Ginger

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