Award-winning comedian and writer Laura Lexx won Best MC in the 2017 UK Comedy Awards. Laura is also a wife and next on her ‘to do’ list was to become a mother. There’s no spoiler alert needed in revealing that Laura’s dream has not yet become a reality. Instead, Laura had a breakdown. For much of 2017 she was dealing with depression and anxiety as well as her mother’s uncensored opinions. There’s no greater critic than your own mother, after all. Laura takes the audience on a heart-warming, nostalgic journey back to her own childhood where she feels safe. Laura’s the second eldest of four and is now an aunt to several joyous little people. Last summer, she embarked on a family holiday to France and found herself in a happier, more comfortable place…the past.
This is a very candid hour in Laura Lexx’s company, it’s also stomach-achingly funny, I hasten to add. Comedy audiences tend to demand ‘truth’ from the performer and this is an extremely honest and compelling show. It’s not gloomy or self-pitying, though. Far from it! Laura has an enviable, amiable confidence on the mic which warmly invites you into her world. Laura discusses depression and anxiety with a levity you can’t help but admire. Both are conditions we may all experience to some degree in our lifetimes and yet we still awkwardly shy away from discussing mental health. Part of Laura’s motivation for writing this deeply sincere show is to highlight that these issues don’t affect a distant ‘other’. They’re probably happening, or will happen, to people you know and it’s important to talk about it.
Laura Lexx’s writing and delivery style is well polished and she’s adept at catching the crowd off guard. Engaging anecdotes, laugh-out-loud one-liners and clever glints of observational humour are woven seamlessly into the narrative. Laura covers a lot of ground as she serves up daft puns, ponders politics and cracks deliciously dark jokes about suicide and death in her mission to ‘make depression cute’. She also wants to silence the the worst kind of busybody. Those who offer their opinion, as if they know more about your body than you, without being aware of the damage their words can cause. Trying is ultimately a show about the different damage we face, mentally and physically. The harm humanity is wreaking on the environment, and how we can all cope with day-to-day life while simultaneously feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders. Ultimately, Laura’s happy that she’s stopped trying and is concentrating on living. You’ll leave this show thinking about your own future, and feel better for the discussion.
Title: Laura Lexx: Trying Venue: Gilded Balloon Teviot, Bristo Square (The Turret). Dates: 3 – 26 August (not 15) Duration: 1 Hour Tickets: www.edfringe.com
