This Edinburgh preview show from Molly Naylor is not in any way your usual solo performance.
This is not stand-up, though there is wit and humour in it at times. Beginning with a scary encounter with a magpie when she was seven, this lyrical take on autobiography takes us through her life from then to now, in her thirties, followed throughout by the magpie, as a kind of dreamy poetic metaphor for her fears and insecurities in life.
Lots of performers use stories from their life, difficulties in adolescence, chaotic love life, too much drinking etc etc, and all of this features here – but it is the depth of its insights, the bravery and honesty of its examination of her, our, struggles with coming to terms with ourselves, and the sheer mesmerising beauty of the writing and the performance of it, that leaves its audience roaring with appreciation at the end.
As a unique approach to dramatic monologue, this show is, well, fantastic.
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Reviewer: John Christopher Wood
