I'm High on Life: What Are You On?

Charming but uncertain storytelling from Bonnie Davies

This article is from 2012.

‘This is not a stand-up show,’ says Bonnie Davies, and she’s right. Rather, Davies presents an hour of anecdotes about her childhood as the daughter of two youth workers who kept a more or less open house for all the waifs, strays and drug-dealing teens they came into contact with.

Davies is visibly nervous, and admits as much, and that reflects in some uncertain delivery, but hearing what she has to tell, it’s clear why: this is an utterly sincere ode to her obviously inspirational parents and the alternate hilarity and tragedy of her chaotic upbringing. She sketches out some compelling real-life characters, embellished with a slide-show and the odd video clip, but to really engage, this show needs to be driven by more dramatic force.

As it is, it’s a charming set of vignettes, but its impact is rendered slight by the feeling that we’re just skimming the surface. Davies is impossible to dislike, but the emotional effect is down to the content not the telling.

C eca, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug, 9.45pm, £8.50--£10.50 (£6.50--£8.50).