Fringe comedy review: Jayde Adams, Shedinburgh

Award-winning comedian and Jayde Adams, whose debut Edinburgh Fringe hour Jayde 31 was nominated for Best Newcomer in 2016, performs a fundraising live online gig as as part of Shedinburgh Fringe Festival

Jayde Adams.

Jayde Adams ***

Coronavirus notwithstanding, Jayde Adams has enjoyed a breakthrough 2020, landing a steady succession of stand-up, scripted and presenting showcases across television.

On what would have been the occasion of her tenth year in Edinburgh however, she was in a defiant rather than triumphant mood, reflecting upon her Fringe journey up to this point. A chronological retrospective, this live-streamed performance was light on laughs. But Adams remains a compelling storyteller, laying bare the vulnerabilities and insecurities that helped shape her charismatic, opera-singing persona – even if it's one she's more recently striven to depart from slightly to confound her pigeonholing in the press.

Plenty of this hour she's recounted before, and more succinctly in a rehearsed format. Her stripped down, shed venue in London's Soho Theatre suppressed her stage presence, even as it encouraged her to reveal a few previously withheld aspects of her motivations. Still, it was interesting to hear the seeds of her next show, continuing the process of her 2019 hour, The Ballad of Kylie Jenner's Old Face, in terms of her taking a journey to educate herself on a subject – this time, cultural appropriation.

Casual viewers might have been disappointed by the lack of performative set-pieces. But for those newly following Adams, this will have been a welcome potted history.

Visit Shedinburgh.com

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. Visit https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director