Comedy review: Kelly Convey: Telephone Voice, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh
Kelly Convey: Telephone Voice, Pleasance Courtyard * * *
Remarkably assured for someone who only began comedy in 2016, Kelly Convey nevertheless personifies the straitjacketing insecurities of the British class system. A self-declared “chav” from Chatham in Kent, it's taken her a long time to wear that label with pride once more, having risen up the ranks of affluence to become a television executive and wine sommelier. Along the way, there's been some fast talk, massaging of the truth and chameleonic blending in, all excellent qualities for this seemingly natural stand-up to acquire.
As her own Pygmalion experiment, she's candid about the many occasions she's been winging it in life, self-deprecating about the times when her front has failed her and she's come to disaster. A canny observer, her appreciation of class has been supplemented by her father's rags to riches story and the posh incongruity of her privately educated half-siblings. Into the mix of her identity wobbles, she relates her re-entry into the dating game, her current relationship and first steps into comedy, realising with slightly pat circularity that she had the right stuff all along. Little matter, as this is a fine Fringe debut from a highly capable storyteller and easy-to-warm-to wit, surely destined for greater things.
JAY RICHARDSON
Until 25 August