Review by Steve Bennett

Natalie Haynes's show just can't live up to its billing.

'Desolation, confessional, scary' these words suggest a bleak, moody piece exploring taboos and exposing the underside of her personality.

Instead, we get some reasonable stand-up, but that's about it.

From her tales, Haynes comes across as a bit impulsive, a bit bitchy, a bit opinionated. But that's hardly on the edge of darkness - in fact it's pretty much assumed for a stand-up. OK, she wanted to send a dead pigeon to an ex - but that's the extreme.

Her on-stage persona reflects this supposedly bitter and twisted character even less. She's chatty, open and engaging, keeping interest levels up as the hour pootles along nicely.

There's not a huge amount of structure here - there are the six categories of the title, but they are not issues to be explored, but just chapter headings for a rag-bag of anecdotes.

The first heading, for example, is phobias, which she starts off by talking about her "phobia" of NHS bureaucracy - seemingly happy to lump a mild irritation in with morbid fears, just because she happens to have some material on it.

Similarly, a row she had with a comedy promoter is categorised under 'death' - but for the most tenuous of reasons.

It's all enjoyable enough stuff - and includes a genuinely informative tale of how Apple Computers got their logo, trivia fans - but at the end of the day it lacks the depth or substance that an hour-long show requires.

Review date: 1 Jan 2002
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett