Alice Marshall: Blood: 5 star review by Laura Pujos

By Laura Pujos
|
8th Aug 2017
|
★★★★★

Alice Marshall is a master of character comedy. Her new show Blood (Best Comedy Award winner at this year’s Brighton Fringe) introduces us to a whole host of fascinating individuals: Greta, an anti-love ‘relationship guru’; Maria, a Spanish airline hostess; Unity, elderly, rich and writing her memoirs; Louise, socially awkward to almost inhuman levels; and Simon, a fully inhuman bird of paradise.

Alice Marshall is set for a very bright future. Christopher Hitchens, take note of this funny woman.

Her commitment to her characters is joyous to witness, and their distinction from each other is capably enacted. In only an hour she truly transforms onstage; it sounds like a hideous cliché but watching a seemingly normal video Alice Marshall and then a live Alice Marshall in an outlandish persona, you might genuinely think they were different women. Physically and vocally she is an outstanding performer, and the characters she has created are equal parts fascinating and bizarre.

The show is structured by intermittent video clips, entitled ‘Love’, ‘Mating’, ‘Confidence’ and ‘Drinking’, which space out Marshall’s character performances and give her time to change from one to the next. The costume and props element of her show is a great visual aid, absorbing us in the absurd spectacle. She also uses the space and audience interaction effectively to really involve everyone in the show, and multimedia to ensure it doesn’t feel repetitive, predictable or dull at any moment.

Named as one of the Guardian’s 2017 acts to watch at the Fringe and one of The Independent’s top female comedians of 2017, Alice Marshall is set for a very bright future. Christopher Hitchens, take note of this funny woman.

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Performances

Location

The Blurb

The Winner of the 2017 Brighton Fringe Best Comedy Award, critically acclaimed character comedian Alice Marshall (BBC Radio 4 Extra) brings her sell-out second show to Edinburgh. With a whole host of brand new faces and returning favourites, these characters are weird, wonderful and downright vicious in equal measure. Comedy just got nasty – and there will be blood… ‘She’s the one you’ll be glad you saw before she got big. See this show’ *****(ShortCom.co.uk). ‘Erotic and extremely funny at the same time – a natural’ (Spectator). ‘An ideal foil for the likes of Matt Berry’ ****(Herald).