Well, the title makes this pretty clear. This is a new show, created every day, with a fresh topic chosen the day before.

 

In the womb-like interior of the Cinema Room at Banshee Labyrinth, Smurthwaite invites the audience to watch each new concept come to life.

 

So far, she has created Aging Bull – a Rocky-themed show about turning fifty. Other shows have covered the rise of the far right, the eclipse, monogamy, divorce, the sixties and emotions.

 

Today’s show is ‘I Heart Flag Movies’ which covers the genocide in Gaza. Smurthwaite has the name of a lawyer scrawled on her arm because it's such a sensitive subject.

 

This is a very clever show. It’s not tremendously funny – but then genocide is not really a laughing matter.

 

The comic has come up with the rather clunky concept of creating a gameshow, in which members of the audience roll a twenty-sided dice (it’s a Dungeons and Dragons thing) to select one of twenty-one facts the comic has compiled about Gaza.

 

Her discussion of each of her talking points is compassionate, insightful and fair minded.  She demolishes the conflation of anti-Israel feeling with antisemitism. She points a finger at the institutions which benefit from the arms race.

 

There’s a clear-headed examination of the politics of colonialism. She considers the meanings and implications of the word genocide.

 

The comic extends particular humanity and care to Jewish people and also ordinary Israelis.  Israel is not a safe place for Jews, she argues, citing the compulsory conscription of its young people into the Israel Defence Forces.

 

Smurthwaite, as part of the comedians’ collective Stand Up For Gaza, has been thinking about this stuff for years.  

 

She’s lost friends over it. She talks about how one particular friend will no longer speak to her. It’s warm, genuine, heart-breaking. This issue divides friends, it divides families. And yet we have to keep talking about it.

 

She applauds Jewish comics such as Ivor Dembina and Adrian Minkowicz for their commitment to keep standing up for Gaza.

 

It isn’t the funniest show on the Fringe.  How could it be? But it does, as Smurthwaite intends, give you something to think about.  This is a nuanced, well-informed, balanced and sane view of a terrible tragedy happening in the world today.

 

Nuance is emerging as one of the themes of this year’s Fringe.  We’ve all had enough of kneejerk politics, social media spats and flag waving. It’s time for some creativity and connection. And this is a great example of what’s possible when you open your heart and engage your brain.

 

The bucket speech, relayed on video by women from Daughters of the Land Project based in Deir al Balah, reminds you that the true spirit of the Fringe can also connect with people around the world.  You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved to tears.

 

The women of Deir Al Balah have given her the most powerful bucket speech on the Fringe, says Smurthwaite.  She’s not wrong.

 

 

 

Read more Fringe reviews here.