ED2014 3/5 Reviews ED2014 Comedy Reviews

An Evening With Patti Dupont (Anna Emerson / La Favorita Freestival)

By | Published on Friday 22 August 2014

If one thing’s true of Anna Emerson’s dark character comedy, it is that it’s unexpected. We don’t actually get an hour with the dubiously-honoured Patti: ageing film actress, serial monogamist and double-jointed dancer. Instead,we meet her daughter Linda, a kowtowing neurotic who’s constantly bullied by her mother (even via mobile phone while she’s on stage). Emerson is brilliantly flaky as Linda, rattling through Patti’s life story in all its bizarre and unseemly details. The show plays on that kind of cringe comedy that makes you want to peer at it through your fingers, and there are some moments just too uncomfortable and unnecessary to be funny. However, you can’t help but root for Linda and the ending is sweet enough to make it all worth it.

St John’s, until 24 Aug.
tw rating 3/5 | [Laura Gavin]

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