Anna Morris has crafted a wonderful hour of entertainment that I highly recommend. Somewhere on the scale between comedy and Performance Art, Anna creates from her make-up box some wonderful characters. The nervous drama student, the irreverent tour guide, the bizarre bride, the bitchy Aussie TV show host, the butch single-woman motivational speaker. All crafted around adverts for absurd Dolly Mixture cosmetic products and a final announcement from the ageing founder of Dolly Mixture.
Despite the show’s cheerful title, it’s very dark in places, with some outrageous content! Anna is always often teetering on the fine line of completely offensive and brilliantly witty, which is why the whole audience was putty in the palm of her hand by the end of the show. Her amazing wit, timing and the instant rapport built with her first character, means we quickly forgive a couple of questionable accents, seeing instead a great and clever comedy performer.
Anna is someone I will be looking out for and her act is one with a lot of scope. At times I had to be careful not to snort with hysterics. The amazing balance of characters that don't see their flaws, their political incorrectness and stupidity all framed in a seemingly girly, but actually very dark veneer of beauty cosmetics made for brilliant show. The ending skit was very powerful, blending the humour and darkness to brilliant effect, leaving a strong final image.
Clever stuff and a must-see for Edinburgh in my opinion, where I think the show could blossom into a glorious piece of work.
