Suzy Bennett

• Laura Ennor
• 5 August 2013

This article is from 2013

credit: Steve Ullathorne

Too much information in a packed debut

Suzy Bennett’s debut solo show is a sweet and rather tragic affair. Bubbly and endearing, she’s a dab hand at getting the audience onside with some preposterous self-lampoonery, and it’s genuinely impossible to know how much of her dignity-free tale – from DIY vajazzles to sex-addiction rehab – is true: if all of it, then she’s remarkably chipper.

Complete with illustrative slides, Bennett charts her obsession with figure skaters Torvill and Dean alongside her catastrophe-prone quest to become famous enough to appear on Dancing on Ice and be mentored by her heroes. A natural entertainer (she was once a Butlins Redcoat, no less), Bennett is at ease in front of an audience and when the material falls short there’s always her manner to enjoy; although, at times she seems to have too much to say and loses comic timing in the rush.

Dancing on Thin Ice may or may not be a poignant and desperate story, but it pushes at the boundaries of credibility enough to allow you to keep laughing at the tragedy without feeling downright mean. One to avoid if you can’t hack oversharing, but worth a try if you appreciate a good bit of self-ridicule

Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, until 25 Aug, 8.15pm, £8.50–£11.50 (£7–£10).