16 Postcodes
Seen at the Edinburgh Fringe, Pleasance Courtyard
I love storytelling pieces like this - a young Irish actress comes to London to study and "live the life" working in any job that will support her and having some successes too. The trick for shows like this is not that there is a fixed narrative but that the show, like the life of the author/performer, is episodic.
The delight in this show is that the performer has lived in 16 postcodes during their time in London and each has a story associated with it ... during the show, members of the audience are requested to select, randomly, postcodes from that list - each show probably has time for only 4 or 5 so each show will contain a different narrative. Each of the episodes is delightfully delivered, even when the events are actually quite traumatic. The overall effect is a wonderful story show.
We ended with a sing-song and a feeling that we have had a glimpse unto a slice of a real life, but only a slice which leaves you wanting more ... delightful
p.s. if we assume 5 items per show there would be over 500,000 possible shows!