Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Rebekka Johnson and Anne Gregory joke that their corporate company retreat  is going to be ‘forced fun’, and that ends up being a surprisingly accurate term. 

The pair play over-enthusiastic bosses of a business that sells period pants, leading a staff outing to reignite the passion for their disastrous product.

However, their jokes hinged only on buzzwords for simple laughs, such as ‘toxic positivity’ and ‘girlboss’. Their product, called Men-ses, pokes fun at the patriarchy, but is more of a gentle tap than a humorous jab. 

This said, their extreme enthusiasm and audience engagement provided a decent dose of fun, especially as they ended with a dance to Cardi B’s WAP. But this was light on content, and turned into a variety show, filling its time with previews of other Fringe shows.

Quite what this has got to with the company Retreat concept is unclear - it just seems like an easy way to forgo filling an hour with their own content.

Chris Grace, who many may recognise from the US sitcom Superstore, performed a  tribute act to Scarlett Johansson, ending with a deliberately lacklustre, hilarious performance as Marvel’s Natasha Romanoff, an unexpected highlight of the show.

Linus Karp previewed his show Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, playing the titular princess battling Camilla. Camilla was portrayed by a monstrous rag-doll, voiced by ridiculous demonic growls, which was met with a few uncomfortable laughs.

Capriella Hooper took the crown in this compilation,  beginning with stand-up before launching into an engaging and laugh-out-loud musical comedy performance. Her tales of bad relationships, ghosting, and restraining orders had the audience singing along.

All in all, this was a show with potential for more. And at times – such as  the performance of The Vagina Monologues by a shy character called Dave – it was unclear what the comedic intent was. 

Review date: 19 Aug 2023
Reviewed by: Kashmini Shah