Show Details
Olivia Neville: Summat An' Nowt
Show type: Edinburgh Fringe 2008

Olivia Neville: Summat An' Nowt


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Videos

Olivia's Tube

From Summat an' Nowt by Olivia Neville, Edinburgh 2008 @ Underbelly, Edinburgh 2008 The voice inside on the tube!

More Olivia Neville: Summat An' Nowt videos
Olivia's Tube
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Description

A comedy sketch show written and performed by Lancashire lass Olivia Neville. A chorus of colourful characters humorously reveal the unfortunate outcomes of daily life.

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Reviews

Original Review:

Young Lancastrian Olivia Neville channels the gentle spirit of Joyce Grenfell in her Fringe debut.

Should you need further proof, in the very first sketch she plays a multitasking mother, trying to cope with her unruly, attention-hungry children. ‘Timmy, no, we’re not to do that,’ she admonishes. It’s not exactly a million miles from Grenfell’s famous catchphrase: ‘George, don’t do that.’

Neville is a sweet, versatile performer all right, delicately playing a range of realistic characters from a bored, squashed commuter to a jolly-hockey-sticks adventurer embarking on a dangerous quest to the wilds of… the North of England.

But for all her quietly wonderful thespian talent, she struggles to make her characters funny, rather than simply identifiable. The restful sketches are all over-long, but since the show only comes in at around 40 minutes anyway, there’s not a lot of opportunity for cutting.

One scene, involving a girl working behind the counter of a camera shop, but coming close to breakdown through the stress of it all, is so heart-wrenchingly sad that you couldn’t possibly laugh at her predicament. Neville’s skill in making the character so real has backfired.

The one very funny scene is when she becomes a sloth during a zoo tour, wordlessly hanging off a tree with wide-eyed bemusement. When you can get laughs from doing nothing, that’s a gift.

Neville is almost certainly going places as an actor, as she’s so genuinely warm, but really needs a much more solid script to properly capitalise on that natural ability.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

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Comments

Saw Olivia do her show at the Hen and Chickens, Highbury, just before she set off to Edinburgh. Great show and definitely worth seeing. The Tube bit is hysterical.

John, August 2008


I saw Olivia in Buxton, she was so good I booked her for a performance in Preston. You will laugh from beginning to end. You will recognise all her characters. One of them could be YOU. Good clean humour.

Philip Walsh, August 2008


Went to see Olivia in Preston and the show was excellent. Very well written and the performance and delivery was superb. We would all like to wish her well at Edinburgh and hope that she gets the recognition she deserves. The show is a credit to her. Well done Olivia. Enjoy yourself in Edinburgh.

Margaret Fletcher, July 2008


Went to see the show in Buxton also in Preston, start to finish had the audience in stitches!

Joan, July 2008


Saw her at the Buxton Festival and really enjoyed it. Very funny girl.

Marian Conboy, June 2008



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