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Nominated for best compere in the 2004 Chortle Awards and best female stand-up in the same awards in 2002.

Coalition: Fringe 2012
Live Review
Pleasance Dome

What most Edinburgh shows wouldn’t give to be the front-page story on The Scotsman this month? Well, thanks to events, yesterday’s paper splashed on the open warfare in the coalition… the very basis of this new comedy play which now seems optimistic in setting the break-up date as 2014.

Robert Khan and Tom Salinsky’s tale of plot and counter-plot contains strong elements of Yes, Minister – more so than The Thick Of It – especially in the establishing scenes. But it turns out more Fawlty Towers farce than that, heaping humiliation upon humiliation on the nominally fictional Deputy Prime Minister until he cracks.

In full-on rant, Thom Tuck is excellent as the likeable but ineffectual Lib Dem leader Matt Cooper, fighting like a wounded animal to keep his increasingly tenuous grip on power while his allies desert him like he deserted his principles. The more he unravels, the more compelling he is to watch in what turns out to be a tour-de-force performance.

The first to go his blunt-speaking No 2, Geoffrey Webb, played by stand-up Alistair Barrie as a popular Vince Cable type, important for keeping the grassroots onside, who quits on a point of principle sacrificed in the name of coalition compromise. This sparks a by-election, and the chain of events that drives Cooper so furious with frustration.

The set-up for all this is a little bit sluggish, as we get introduced to key players including Jo Caulfied as the Lib Dem’s ice-cool chief whip, Angela Hornby, and a scene-stealing Phill Jupitus as the PM’s creepily camp, oleaginous envoy Sir Francis Whitford, sowing the seeds of his enemy’s destruction. ‘You can always trust the Tories,’ he asserts witht a sinister hiss.

Yet while the plot creeps along, the writing is confident, with some wry, knowing lines playing up the stereotypes of the ruthless Conservatives and hippy Lib Dems rather surprised to find some of their members in Cabinet. Co-creator Khan is a Labour councillor so might be expected to have some insight into how parties see each other – even if he takes a bit of a liberty with the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 to be able to pull off a crucial plot point.

As the pressure ramps up, things become more interesting – and more funny; starting with the watershed moment when we meet the prospective candidate parachuted in to fight that crucial by-election against the defector Webb. John Dorney puts in an hilarious turn as a twitchy, dim, alcoholic lawyer as the increasingly worried party elite watch him rehearse what he will say on the stump.

Although it’s an enjoyable hour with great-to-fantastic performances, Coalition doesn’t get the full vote, because of its looser moments, and because it doesn’t manage to take us into new territory. There’s something of the feeling that we’ve seen all this conniving political satire before – even if the parties and the situations are slightly different. But still a decent effort.

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Except that Victoria Wood is still very much around (hurrah!) Jo Caulfield is a worthy successor to her. Have just seen her live in Edinburgh and she was brilliant, a mistress of her craft, likeable and supremely talented. I know humour is a subjective thing, and normally I wouldn't dream of disagreeing with anyone on the subject, but Mr Bardon is wrong wrong wrong!! However he wrote his comment more than two years ago: he might have changed his mind by now.

Elaine, August 2008

Just goes to show that women are still yet to be the equal sex, as she is FAR funnier then half the male comedians on tele, she has good material, is likeable and still some of her best laughs come from the banter she has with the audience. Mindblowing, and worth every penny.

DB, January 2008

Forget her so-so Radio 4 persona and catch her live. Sharp, witty, deliciously nasty... Definitely one to watch!

Michael Monkhouse, December 2007

Brilliant and bitchy. This is pure observational comedy at its best

Adam Montgomery, September 2007

Ignore anything on Radio 4, live she really is a hoot. Great material, strong delivery. No idea why the radio stuff is junk, she definitely works live

Scott, August 2006

I love her - it's that simple

STB, February 2006

Jo Caulfield is not that brilliant. I love Radio 4, and I listen to it everyday on the way to university and back. Every Tuesday evening she is on and she does not even muster up a smile from me. She could throw in a laughable gag or come up with something original. Sadly as yet this is not to be.

Ronnie Bardon, January 2006

Jo's funny as fuck

Flo, December 2005

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