Isobel Jacob
German professional football player, Thomas Muller, Dee Allum explains, is known as a Raumdeuter, a player who interprets (deuten) space (Raum). A Raumdeuter is a player who is able to run between the zones of the pitch, slipping invisibly through lines of defense. And Allum takes this concept of in-between spaces – of being able to morph and shift and change – and runs with the ball in this entirely entertaining, sometimes outrageously honest, hour of stand-up comedy about football, Englishness and her experience living as a trans woman in the UK.
Allum enters the stage in a charming blue denim dress, which she does not hesitate to tell us she is very pleased with, and immediately puts the audience at ease: we are here to laugh with her and not at her, and her with us, not at us, and this atmosphere allows her to get stuck straight away into her hilariously self-deprecating and ironic set. From decisions about whether to get bottom surgery, to coming out to her elderly grandparents, Allum never shies away from intimately personal stories told with cheeky and mischievous wit that frequently surprises and plays on the absurdities of her trans experience, yet never relies on shock factor for cheap laughs.
Allum artfully draws unexpected yet precise parallels between transness and football matches, between her relationships and British politics today. With more observational comedy creeping in too, tales of working for Octopus Energy and satirical bits about gambling adverts or political parties provide balance and variety from Allum’s mostly personal style. These sections are less tight, I think, occasionally losing the momentum and strong through-line from the first half of the show. However, these lapses are brief, and Allum never loses the investment of her audience with her playful and candid reflections on the UK in this current moment, making her political feelings perfectly clear but never alienating. She is engaging and impossible not to love – even when she is terrorising one or two audience members in particular!
An hour of politically savvy and uproarious frankness, I would recommend Dee Allum to anyone as a must-see comic at this year’s Fringe.
Recommended Drink: A Carling or a Stella. With ‘It’s Coming Home’ playing in the background, you’ll almost forget you’re in a theatre not a football stadium.
You can see Dee Allum: Raumdeuter at Pleasance Courtyard until 30 August at 16:10 (1 hour). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.
Issy Cory
Esme Davis
