Gabby Best’s Edinburgh show 10,432 Sheep is about her struggle with insomnia, and her approach to coping with life in general. Gabby Best hasn’t managed to sleep soundly in years and, rather than dump this truth and spend an hour bemoaning her troubles, she of course sees the funny side – and as members of her crowd, we can’t fail to either.
She hits us with cleverly woven punch lines and captivates the audience.
This is Best’s debut hour as a stand up. Her acclaimed comedy character, Croatian Fitness Instructor Marijana, won The Funny Women 2012 stage award. And with this show, she’s glided comfortably into the transition to entertainer. Her somewhat hyperactive persona makes sense as she’s clearly so wired due to lack of sleep. We simultaneously feel sorry for her, yet glad for our own good fortune – Gabby's trouble sleeping is clearly our comedic gain. Despite her lack of zzz’s, there’s an energy to her storytelling which keeps us hooked as she goes off on inspired flights of fancy.
Gabby possesses an immensely likeable persona, as she hits us with cleverly woven punch lines and captivates the audience with her tales of sleeplessness. She explores the erratic thoughts and behaviours she’s utilised to cope with how to spend her many waking hours. Making best pals with the local 24 hour shop workers so she can browse the shelves each night at her leisure, and the emotional goodbyes that such an unlikely bond can bring when two humans have been drawn together through circumstance.
Ultimately, Gabby’s convinced that if she were to get some shut eye, she’d be achieving much more in life by now. Such as kicking off her heels and falling onto a luxurious sofa after a long day. Gabby paints vivid, hilarious images into our minds as we are lulled into a happy, trance-like state as we try to count the 10,432 punch lines she rattles through like a comedy machine gun. Don’t snooze… go catch her while you can!
