Upon entering the Wee Coo venue tucked away to the side of the Udderbelly behemoth, Catriona Knox has transmogrified into the imposing Greek waitress that typifies many a holiday to the Med. It is bizarre to see this striking young woman playing the part of this harridan so adeptly.This believability is maintained with ease for the entire hour, as each character is played with the astuteness of an expert actor. This on its own would not be enough as there are myriad talented actors at the Fringe and if a one-woman show is going to separate itself from the pack the writing is going to have to be a bit special. It didn’t take long to realise that Knox had delivered this condition with aplomb. Despite the fact that some of her characters are oft-satirised (the ‘yoof’, the blind date, and the spurned newlywed bride all feature in Knox’s show) they have been injected with a twisted vulnerability that is depressingly amusing. There are a couple of characters that don’t play quite as well as others. The ageing luvvie reliving the glory days is not quite as convincing as Knox’s other characters only because the writing is not quite as sharp.The undoubted highlight of the hour is Knox’s portrayal of Sarah Ferguson (Fergie) as a loudmouth, northern boozer (reminiscent of Coogan’s Paul Calf), scamming pints off fellow pub patrons as she hasn’t got ‘a pot to piss in’. Between offering pork scratchings to bemused audience members or downing the dregs of a front row gentleman’s pint, Knox is the embittered ex-royal screaming at the broadcast of Kate’s royal wedding. It really is a golden character, and one that might be instrumental in fulfilling a probable ambition of Knox’s: that of perhaps bringing her considerable talent to bear on our televisions. She wouldn’t be out of place.
