Salvador Kent
Rosie Holt is excellent in her solo show Churchill’s Urinal, a pretty funny if pretty formulaic lampooning and dissection of the corridors of power.
She draws on an actual political tidbit in Rachel Reeves not being able to remove Churchill’s Urinal from her office bathroom. This is a conceptual gem. The show is at its best when its ripping the piss out of Winston Churchill sycophants that permeate english life. The fact Holt’s Chancellor has to repeatedly name him the greatest PM to ever live gets increasingly frustrating for her and increasingly funny for us. The themes of women in power being relentlessly abused and threatened by losers on the internet is also cleverly done and moving.
Some of the jokes are a bit eye-rolling – the references to Truss, Johnson, Partygate — woah! Tories do cocaine! Now I’m doing cocaine! They all function fine as jokes but the show’s better when it’s cleverer than that. When, for example, the humour becomes clownish as Holt has to move from telephone to telephone – with the most funny interactions being inbetween her divorce proceedings, an advisor to the PM in Charlie and Holt’s really useless secretary Sophie.
Michael Lambourne is great as Charlie and then as Winston Churchill’s urinal (yes really) which feels like a throwback to the grossout weird comedy of Fringe past. It’s a great creation, ashen whiteface and a contorted gesture that is funny all by itself. Maybe we could see him torn from the bathroom wall sooner, because at 70 minutes, the play is long for Fringe.
A speech at the end of the play is a rousing exploration of a country in crisis, as the troubled Chancellor gets a bunch of Reform voters to put the urinal on the fourth plinth of Trafalgar Sqaure — this is really a state of the nation moment that is delivered with great skill.
Holt is a smart writer, the material is funny and when its clever its really clever. This is a quick paced satire with some pretty funny jokes and some interesting ideas, and Holt is a great performer, entertainer and writer.
Recommended Drink: Just make sure it’s not yellow.
You can catch Churchill’s Urinal at Pleasance EICC (Lomond) at 14:00 (70mins) until August 23rd. Tickets Are Available Through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Roe McDonnell
Hannah Hamilton
