During my first week of the Fringe this year I went to see quite a few shows but two of them really stood up for me, Katie Brennan's Quarter Life Crisis and Gillian Cosgriff's This is Why we can't have nice things.
Quick introduction, both shows are created by young, smart and extremely fan women, both shows are a perfect combination of songs and cabaret, both shows are mostly for women but men can definitely learn a thing or two from them, both shows will make you genuinely laugh for a hour, solid.
There are differences tho between the two shows and that's why I enjoyed both of them and I think both of them definitely with a ticket.
Katie Brennan welcomes you in a tiny room at the Underbelly, late at night and in a second, with the help of Joseph Atkins at the piano, will create a warm atmosphere.
In a hour she will go through the struggles of moving to London to find a job, the awkward sex with some Tinder date, the memories of the 90's and the difficulties of living with anxiety, all this mixing sarcastic and cheeky humor and musical style songs.
By the end of the show the crowd looks more like a group of friends laughing about their lives.
Katie's voice is powerful and her shows it's definitely funny but nostalgic and sweet at the same time, you go out of the room with a smile on your face but thinking at the same time but having a bit more hope.
Highlights of the show I would say are the song "That's why I'm not Carrie Bradshaw" and the 90's songs madly.
Gillian Cosgriff welcomes you at 20.00 at the Gilded Baloon, this is her first time at the Fringe Festival but as soon as she steps on stage you can tell is going to be good.
At the piano or playing a cheap ukulele Gillian entertains the audience for the whole hour, even going out of her script.
The australian comedian mixes well known melodies with hilarious lyrics and dense moments of cabarets where there's no time to stop laughing.
She focuses on the stress and the anxiety of getting close to be 30 and feeling like you NEED to achieve certain "goals" such as get married and having kids, having a "respectable" job, be responsible and maybe a bit less funny.
It's so easy during the show laughing and looking at your friends thinking "oh yes, that's us".
Lots of the topic she touches are very updated with all the current trends and at the end the song "#prematurenostalgia" is the cherry on top.
Katie's and Gillian's shows are brilliant because they're real and that's what makes it so easy to empathize with them, you go out laughing and thinking that we are all going through the same things.
At the end a bad memory can turn in a good story and after a while it will just make you laugh even if it made you cry, a lot...
Vero xx
