Comic Storytelling of the very highest order. Moira Bell is a triumphant creation.
📍Scottish Storytelling Centre – Netherbow Theatre at Fringe
📅 Aug 3-10, 12-14, 16, 18, 20-21, 23
🕖 6:30pm
🕖 Running time (approx.): 1 hour
👥 Creator/Producer: Alan Bissett
👥 Director/Producer: Sacha Kyle
💰 From £6.00 (Preview), £10.00 thereafter
🎂 14+
🎭 Wheelchair Accessible Venue, Wheelchair Accessible Toilet, Audio Enhancement
Moira Bell was born on the stage of Aye Write! Festival back in 2009, a whirlwind of working class, single-parent, dug-parent, and smart-mouthed Falkirk realness. Two successful outings later, brings us to Moira in Lockdown, and what an absolutely smashing instalment it is.
Bissett occupies his creation so fully that with neither make-up, nor costuming (aside from a strategic pair of heels), Moira still walks the stage, eclipsing her creator utterly. The mannerisms, the voice, the acutely observed movements…the draws on an imaginary fag played so authentically, it’s easy to see the smoke rising. There’s no parody here, just a keen actor’s instinct.
Then there’s the storytelling, and boy does Moira have some stories to tell. Bissett’s alter-ego recounts the lows, and highs of lockdown, from serial flirtations with the Amazon delivery driver, to the long days of isolation with only a bottle for company. Never one to shy from a conflict, Moira’s always ready to fight the good fight, be it over the last loo-roll in the supermarket, or to put mouthy Fringe comedians in their place. Then there’s the lustful alignment of Moira’s lockdown frustrations, and Joe Wicks’ online fitness classes…
The results are painfully funny, often to the point of breath deprivation. Bissett never snatches at a punchline, never rushes to his crescendos, no, this is a performer in absolute control of his discipline. There are also carefully judged moments of pause, of heart-searching and philosophy, rounding out the character as fully as any evoked by Alan Bennett.
There’s an alchemy in this joyful marriage of story and performance, the world of Moira springing into visceral life, not just the leading lady, but also a modest cast of allies and antagonists. There’s so much showing inherent to Bissett’s telling; it’s a masterclass in painting pictures in an audience’s mind. All of this achieved with a script rich in Scots dialect, and yet unquestionably accessible to those who also understand English. It’s just marvellous.
Heart-stoppingly funny, and heart-warming, Alan Bissett has created nothing less than an hour of storytelling perfection.
(Image Credit: Alan Bissett)
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