Comedy review: Laura Davis: Better Dead Than A Coward, Bob’s Blunderbus, Edinburgh
Laura Davis: Better Dead Than A Coward, Bob’s Blunderbus, Edinburgh * * *
Hands fluttering, she focuses on the tiny details of life – the bus rides, the bags of crisps, the moths fluttering around a light bulb. Her voice is soft and she leads you gently into exploring her joyfully eccentric world.
Davis spends a lot of time lurking on obscure corners of the internet – getting into fights with strangers who spend a lot of time in fields. She’s also thinking about having a child – but worries about environmental catastrophe. Her kooky sensibilities give her an original take on the classic moral and ethical dilemmas of young adulthood.
Having done stand up for twelve years has allowed Davis to explore her darker side and she’s disarmingly candid about her emotional life. There is a steely strength beneath her soft exterior and she springs jokes like a trap, taking the audience by surprise.
She’s happy performing on the top floor of Bob’s Blundabus, having spent a couple of financially ruinous years in bigger venues. And it suits her style, to be sharing warm intimate storytelling comedy on the top floor of a bus with the rain falling softly on the roof.
Until 25 August
Claire Smith