Gilded Balloon Teviot

14th to 25th August

17:45

£8 to £9.50

    Before the show has even started we see Diane building her set and interacting with the audience. It’s a warm beginning and perhaps the promise of great things to come. Unfortunately this isn’t quite the case. Not that she’s bad, she performs with confidence, energy and warmth and her material is well written. I suppose the main problem was that it just wasn’t my sense of humour. Gags about relationships, bodily functions and being a ginger while witty are well trodden and, if I may be so bold, slightly tired territory. The imaginative set gave me the impression this might be a bit more absurdest and surreal, but in reality it was fairly every day. The audience loved it though so what the hell do I know?

What I did admire, however, was the balls out, unflinching honesty of her show. All delivered with the kind of light hearted warmth that could lead you to believe she was just telling you an amusing knitting anecdote. I feel it is with this juxtaposition that she could, and probably will, go far. But I wanted more. She just seemed far too in control of her faculties for someone who was telling us constantly what a klutz she was. If Johnny Vegas has taught us one thing it’s that there’s nothing funnier than watching someone go into complete mental collapse during the course of their show. So I couldn’t help but think, wouldn’t it be great if be the end of the show her lovingly constructed set was in ruins with her legs akimbo and panting in the ruins, maybe with a little drool coming out of the corner of her mouth? Or maybe I’m just a bad man. THREE STARS