Crawling out from the wreckage of a nasty breakup comes the grotesque figure of Prune. Clad in a bulging purple costume and face paint, Flynn rampages through the tragicomedy of her previous relationship with a surreal flair. Prune will keep you constantly between the line of snorting with laughter and wincing and right there is where Flynn will keep you.
Prune will keep you constantly between the line of snorting with laughter and wincing and right there is where Flynn will keep you
The comedy of Prune is multifaceted. The character itself is so bizarre that her mere existence and manner of speech is funny enough. Flynn will punch through scenery, pseudo-fellate water bottles and perhaps best of all, drag the audience into the act. This is not a show for a passive watcher. Flynn repeatedly turns to the audience for her next punchline, bringing them into her bonkers world. You can sense the incoming hilarity and collective fear every time she darts her eyes across the audience searching for a new victim. Flynn is a fantastic improviser and simply nothing an audience member can do to throw her off her stride. Her character is so ridiculous and imposing that everyone turns into nervous jelly in her hands. I had the pleasure of a first-hand experience of this as I was pulled onto the stage made to give a speech. It is hilarious watching people squirm in her hands and yet also I have never felt more relief and joy when she went looking for a new victim after I knew that I had done my time.
While audience participation is a big factor in the performance, the main source of comedy is Flynn directing the jokes at herself. The creature on stage was made after a bad breakup that involved her ex-boyfriend cheating on her repeatedly with webcam girls. We are treated to the scene of how she discovers the infidelity, how her dreams were crushed and plenty of other wacky scenarios. This isn’t stand up and Flynn herself doesn’t speak too much but it is genuinely amusing to watch her fly from misery to falling in love with audience members. It is a show that requires an intimate venue and small audience and succeeds because of that. There are times that Prune can get too weird, but if you are the type of person who laughs along with even the strangest Python sketches then you will be right at home.
Flynn has created a truly wonderful beast with Prune and does a fantastic job bringing you with her up the mountains of madness. Her oddly magnetic brand of weird comedy makes for a ridiculous and hilarious night out.
