It’s the first night of the Brighton Dome Comedy Festival and Fern Brady is making the spacious Concert Hall – the largest of the three Brighton Dome venues filled to the gills with comedy tonight – feel as intimate as the teenage car you drove around in with your mates, overflowing with joie de vivre and perfect inappropriate sharing.
Which is perfectly correct given that her support act is an on form Alison Spittle, balancing quick wit with a laid back persona and highly enjoyable storytelling. Deceptively tight writing found me slightly dazed at how well Spittle blithely stepped from gynaecology exam accidents to suicidal thoughts and Sims add-ons without a muscle of anxiety being twanged, a heavyweight testimony to her skills. And her likability, that has always been there, is elevated by these trips into the formerly taboo feminist subjects now brought front and centre with a personal tint.
Brady’s show is delightful, personal, straight stand up – which is what she wants to do. Not be famous, go on reality shows, or be a brave little mouthpiece and box-ticker as a figurehead for autistic women. As much as there isn’t a single story here this is a pointillist piece, bringing together lots of examples of her perspective and life to create a whole vibrant impression. The result being insight into her actual showbiz life, where she goes on holiday to Thailand with her brother and comedian Phil Wang – a highlight tale of mushroom-tripping conjuring vivid and hilarious images – and accidental faux pas with not one but two national treasures. She may not want to be famous but she’s certainly in that field now and there’s plenty to be harvested from it.
There’s a lot of sharing, and the honest perplexed nature of her doing her best to fit in as the rules keep changing from nation to nation, whilst also pretty much being unable to be untrue to herself, is endearing and connecting. Brady sees the humour in her life with an awareness and modesty that thankfully never slips into self-flagellation, thanks in no small part to the self-awareness entwined with her autistic diagnosis.
‘I Gave You Milk to Drink’ is a cracking start to the long weekend comedy festival Brighton Dome are playing host to, a welcome celebration after too many years when the venue was closed for refurbishments and updates that are finally ready with their fresh acoustics and layouts. Still to come this weekend are shows from the likes of Sophie Duker, Julia Masli, Rob Auton, and Nish Kumar, as well as kids shows from Phil Kay and sketch duo Shelf, the No Direction Home showcase from the UK’s first refugee comedy collective, and a Modern Toss interactive exhibition. This is exciting and mindful programming. A worthy welcome back, and hopefully the start of many more years of comedy festivalling.
Brighton Dome Comedy Festival runs until Sunday October 27. More information here.
Four stars
