Multi award-winning comedian Adele Cliff brings a work-in-progress show to the Edinburgh Fringe, promising material on love, life choices and llamas.
Although, as it turned out, the llamas didn’t make it into this particular performance.
Cats did.
I’d heard of Adele Cliff before, but simply hadn’t had the opportunity to see her perform, so this work-in-progress show gave me the chance to finally put that right.
First, the venue itself deserves a mention. The performance took place inside a converted shipping container, which is certainly one of the more unusual spaces I’ve found myself sitting in at the Fringe. It’s intimate – very intimate – so if you’re particularly claustrophobic, this probably isn’t going to be your favourite Fringe venue.
For Adele’s style of comedy, however, that intimacy actually worked rather well.
Adele presented a very relaxed and friendly set. There wasn’t a huge divide between comedian and audience; instead, it often felt like we were having a conversation with her, albeit one where Adele was firmly in control of where that conversation was heading.
She asked the audience questions, including finding out what we thought was better or worse, and our answers then led into friendly and humorous discussions. Audience interaction can sometimes make you desperately avoid eye contact with a comedian in fear that you’re about to become their next victim, but that isn’t Adele’s approach.
Adele is not a comedian who’s waiting to roast you.
She’s vegan, looks after cats and declares that she is absolutely not a cat lady.
I’ll leave audiences to make their own judgement on that last point.
Her comedy is similarly good-natured. Adele is humorous, but I wouldn’t describe this as the sort of rip-roaring comedy where you’re laughing so hard that you’ve forgotten how to breathe. It’s gentler than that. You laugh along, you’re amused throughout and you enjoy spending time in her company.
And there’s absolutely a place at the Fringe for that style of comedy.
Not every comedian needs to fire punchline after punchline at an audience. Adele’s strength is her conversational approach. She has an easy manner which makes the room feel comfortable, and because of the intimacy of the venue, the audience quickly becomes part of the atmosphere of the show.
The work-in-progress format also means Adele has the freedom to explore material and see how audiences respond. Some ideas naturally feel further developed than others, but that’s precisely what you’re signing up for when attending a WIP. You’re seeing a comedian shaping something rather than presenting a completely finished product.
As this was a work-in-progress show, I agreed with Adele that I wouldn’t publish a star rating. It doesn’t seem particularly useful to attach a definitive score to something that the performer is openly telling you isn’t yet the final product.
What I can say is that the foundations are certainly there.
The show was paced well, the audience interaction felt natural rather than forced, and Adele maintained the relaxed atmosphere throughout. Most importantly, I enjoyed it.
I finally got to see Adele Cliff perform, had plenty of laughs along the way and discovered that the advertised llamas had apparently been replaced by cats.
Perhaps the llamas are still a work in progress too.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/adele-cliff-work-in-progress
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