If you cosy up in the Turret of Teviot’s Gilded Balloon with Wendy Wason, you’ll get a stand-up comedian who’s got a friendly, motherly attitude and whose stories are completely ‘everyday’: supermarkets and school runs, disappointed parents and plenty of gossip.
From the flashes of dark humour, the friendly neighbour feel, and the uplifting end of the show, it’s an enjoyable hour.
She’s keen to make everyone welcome in her little space, so there’s a bit of audience interaction (and lots of reassurances about this). There’s plenty of charm as well as humour in her stories, which run us through her various roles as well as “tiny me”, the Wendy who “likes red wine, silence, and baths—baths of red wine”. But she’s also a daughter, a mother, a friend, a wife, and all of these have their problems. We hear about how to disappoint your mother early, the difficulties of social media and sex education with her children, and how David Bowie just might have been the secret ruler of the world (and we’re not doing so well without him). Vivacious, gossipy, and bubbly, Wendy suddenly feels like your best friend.
There’s a bit of political content as well, from recent referenda to the kind of everyday sexism that she’s noticed. This is all formed by anecdotes about Wendy’s life (and occasionally people she knows), and she’ll chatter on, take tangents, and loop back and forth, which she’s upfront about telling us about. “This is just me, wanging on,” she says. It doesn’t strike as all slick and rehearsed then, but more it feels more genuine for that, and she knows what she’s doing. From the flashes of dark humour, the friendly neighbour feel, and the uplifting end of the show, it’s an enjoyable hour.
