Olivia Raine Atwood is a professional matchmaker who accidentally set up her college boyfriend with her high school bully. Sort of like if Ron set up Hermione with Malfoy. Or Romeo set up Juliet with someone who bullied Romeo. You know. Like that. You get it.
At the Edinburgh Fringe, I was lucky enough to catch Olivia Raine Atwood and see Oops for myself.
Before the show had even properly started, I noticed Olivia making observations about where people were sitting and making some slight adjustments to the audience. For a moment, it felt like either the start of the Spanish Inquisition or the beginning of a Fringe show.
Thankfully, it was the latter.
Although, judging by what was to come, I think Olivia was already sizing us all up.
Olivia’s style of humour reminds me of a cross between Katie Fogler and Liz Coin. I’d also say Olivia runs on the same coffee Katie drinks – presumably something containing enough caffeine to power a small Scottish village.
Olivia has energy. Lots of it.
In fact, I feel a greyhound would be slower than Olivia. She must have covered approximately 20 miles just running around the stage during this performance. If someone had attached a Fitbit to her before the show, she’d probably have completed her daily steps before most of us had finished breakfast.
That frenetic physicality becomes part of the comedy. Olivia doesn’t simply stand there and tell us stories; she throws herself into them.
And the stories certainly don’t hold back. At one point, she tells us about an unfortunate accident in the toilet department, which naturally generated plenty of laughter from the audience. It’s exactly the sort of story that works because Olivia tells it without any airs and graces.
She’s downright down-to-earth and relatable, and Oops packs a hefty comedic punch. Humour is blended with anecdotes, storytelling and Olivia’s own experiences, resulting in a show that rarely gives you much time to recover before the next joke arrives.
You could also tell that she’d sized up her audience before the show began. A few unsuspecting people were selected to participate, and those interactions added another dimension to the performance. Perhaps all that scanning of the room at the beginning wasn’t so innocent after all.
Audience interaction can sometimes feel forced in comedy, but here it felt natural. Olivia knew who she wanted to involve and, crucially, how far she could take it.
The pace throughout was frenetic. The jokes kept coming, the stories kept developing and the energy seemed absolutely boundless. There was very little downtime, and Olivia commanded the room throughout.
What particularly worked for me was that beneath all that energy is someone who knows how to tell a story. Take away the racing around the stage and the larger-than-life delivery and there is still a strong piece of comedy underneath. The physicality enhances the material rather than compensating for it.
I saw Olivia at her finest today. She was confident, quick, incredibly likeable and completely committed to the performance.
If she displays this kind of energy for the rest of the Edinburgh Fringe, somebody really needs to arrange an all-expenses-paid spa retreat for her afterwards. Preferably somewhere she is legally required to sit still for at least 48 hours.
Oops is fast, funny and wonderfully chaotic, delivered by a performer who seems to have discovered an entirely new form of renewable energy.
An absolute belter of a show.
★★★★★ 5 Stars
Fast, funny and wonderfully chaotic –she’s not flat.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/olivia-raine-atwood-oops
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