I love the pace of American stand up and am constantly searching for the British female equivalent, so was very excited to see this show to think about comparisons. Sara Schaefer is a hugely accomplished purveyor of the art and her stand up show comes perfectly packaged for her debut at the Fringe.
Admittedly Sara has lots of experience to fall back on – she is already an Emmy award-winning comedian, has hosted her own talk show on MTV and appears on Comedy Central and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Refreshingly and to her credit, Sara doesn’t refer to any of this ‘celebrity’ in her show. We have to take her at face value with a slow burning and sometimes intensely personal narrative which may not suit traditional British tastes. It’s a brave move, but this is the world’s largest arts festival so where better to showcase what you do best.
This is a show you have to settle into, allowing Sara to give voice to her own internal thought process and drawing you into her musings about the ridiculousness of the political state of America and the everyday mundanity of life that carries on regardless of its hapless new leader. Sara offers her first-hand perspective on how Trump came to be elected and the idiosyncrasies of hardline Christian America.
Then there was the added and unexpected bonus of some little dark tantalising glimpses of Stuart-Lee-like material about Sara’s complicated relationship with religion. In fact, the story that gives her show the title of Little White Box is one of the most memorable of my whole Fringe experience.
★★★★★
Sarah Schaefer: Little White Box is at Pleasance Courtyard at 19:00 until 28th August. For tickets and more information click here!
