Without doubt, the silliest show on the Fringe this year is 2022 Funny Women double award winner Lorna Rose Treen’s Skin Pigeon. From the second Treen bursts out from a huge pile of clothes, dressed as a 9-year-old Brownie Guide, to the end she keeps a high energy handle on a show that in less able hands could descend into chaos, with a plethora of weird and wonderful characters.
The show goes at a rapid pace, reminiscent of 90s BBC sketch series The Fast Show. Treen doesn’t waste a word, every sentence ends in a punchline, it’s arguable this is a one-liner show disguised (ha ha) as a character act.
I thought Treen’s film-noir character was my favourite, it’s the act that won her the Funny Women Stage Award, however, her brilliantly observed Richard Curtis female protagonist might pip the femme-fatale with a speech impediment to the post. It also suggests a certain steeliness to Treen’s take on the world which is otherwise concealed by a very cheerful delivery.
This year’s crop of Fringe shows appear to have dropped the idea that there must be an epiphany at the 40-minute mark. Performers have remembered it’s a comedy show, not an essay, freeing themselves to just be funny or even silly. The success of Skin Pigeon is demonstrative of this change in the comedy landscape.
★★★★
Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon is at The Attic in the Pleasance Courtyard at 16:35 until 27th August. For tickets click here!
