Comedy review: Jacob Hawley: Faliraki, Just The Tonic @ The Mash House, Edinburgh

Jacob Hawley: Faliraki, Just the Tonic at The Mash House (Venue 288)

As far as the Fringe is concerned, Jacob Hawley is doubtless broadly correct that discussions about mental health and feminism tend to exclude working-class voices like his.

Jacob Hawley: Faliraki, Just The Tonic @ The Mash House, Edinburgh * * *

Aware of his USP as a more-or-less reformed lad, he knows that he's unlikely to get a TV travelogue with his father in the manner of Jack Whitehall anytime soon. Instead, he frames his opinions around two of the great love affairs of his life, the virtuous Irish midwife that he's currently in a relationship with, and the Slovakian girl he fell for on hedonistic holiday to Faliraki in 2009. Notwithstanding some worrying echoes of his mother, Hawley's current squeeze has broadened his mind, whereas his holiday fling only exacerbated his worst behaviour.

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Astute on the ways in which working-class escapism manifests itself in self-destructive traits, Hawley wears his heart on his sleeveless arms, the better to show off his symbolic tattoos. Vengeance aspects and criminal activity aside, his Greek affair can be appreciated as an amusing rite of passage. But Hawley's a sharper operator now than he was. And though he's still finding his comedic voice somewhat, he's a distinctive act striving to negotiate class expectations and constrictions.

Until 25 August

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