Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Women are crushing sitcoms, with the likes of Kat Sadler, Bridget Christie, Lucia Keskin, Nida Manzoor, Diane Morgan and the Amandaland crew creating some of the best-in-class comedies of the past couple of years.

This, hopefully, marks significant progress from the oft-cited research which found that just 11 per cent of British sitcoms were written by women between 2001 and 2016 – a sobering stat which gives this sketch show its name.

The brainchild of three female-led industry outfits, this Fringe venture started with an open call to female comedy writers for scripts to highlight the gender imbalance in the business, which means the show has a tight focus.

However, sexism comes in many flavours, and the team mined a lot of them, including how women have to be multiple times smarter and more talented to get a foothold in the industry compared to mediocre men with the right contacts; how men’s stories are seen as universal but women’s as specific; how the industry bends over backwards to make allowances for problematic men, yet instantly condemns a woman making a reasonable request as a diva; how men dominate the conversation and let women’s voices go unheard; how it starts in certain comedy nights with a reluctance to allow women on to their boys’ club stages. 

The list goes on. Women’s non-confrontational ‘no worries if not’ approach that can hold them back in a hugely competitive industry was parodied in one sketch, but it’s clear where the biggest problems lie.

Given the relatively narrow brief, the sketches eventually started feeling a bit repetitive – though how long it took to get to that point is perhaps indicative of the depth of the problem. Still, it would have been interesting to see what the writers could have done with no limits, with scenes that reflected a wider range of experiences and allowed women to be flawed, not just frustrated.

A few of the skits that started outside the TV industry gave a glimpse at this potential, such as the hard-as-nails copper who turned out to be a member of Cliched Female Characters Anonymous alongside the likes of ‘menopausal woman’ and ‘girl next door’. Or snippets of film and TV genres interrupted by a sleazy director demanding they be spiced up with some needless sexy lesbian action. But, as you can see, they were all brought back to systemic TV industry issues pretty quickly.

The cast brought the work to life with spirited, playful performances, forming a strong chemistry both with the audience and each other. You would never have known that they met for the first time just eight days before this short, final-week run at the Fringe.

And the whole show is shot through with an infectious spirit of celebration, expressing the collective desire of a group of talented women on- and off- stage to show the world what they are capable of. The final song certainly sent the audience out with that same ‘hell yeah’ positivity, too. Hope the telly execs were watching…

And to give credit where it’s due, the show was created by Gobby Girl Productions, Female Pilot Club and Funny Women. The cast was Claire Rafferty, Laura Evelyn, Noor Sobka, Alice Etches, Lauren Davidson, Verona Rose, Tonia Toseland and Bec Bartley. And the writers were Charlie Vero-Martin, Sam Lyden & Teresa Burns, Cheryl Duncan, Jenny de Jersey, Mary Flanigan, Jo Somner, Anne-Marie Draycott & Charity Trimm, Emma Keaveney-Roys & Lotte Allan, Sinead Hegarty, Jane Harvey & Rosie Sosic, Natalie Malla & Xara Higgs, Charlotte Audrey, Bec Bartley, Alice Etches and Laura Evelyn.

• Chortle’s coverage of sketch and multi-character acts at the Edinburgh Fringe is supported by (but not influenced by) the Seven Dials Playhouse. Read more

Review date: 25 Aug 2025
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters