Liz Kingsman’s One-Woman Show is quintessential fringe material. This epic one-woman show is a comedic masterclass. Liz has the audience in the palm of her hand from the offset. Liz’s script drives you through the multitude of cliches that we are accustomed to seeing from modern writing of women.
Liz as a performer is absolutely captivating on stage, her stage presence puts you at ease throughout the production. Even when portraying the most unrealistic narratives she delivers the dialogue with such a naturalistic poise. Her comedic writing and timing is absolutely stunning. Most one-woman-led shows feature main characters who are ‘messy’ sex-positive/ self distructive twenty-somethings navigating through dark tales masked by comedy. Kingsman flips this on its head taking the mick out of these tropes. Her performance is energised, refreshing and hilarious. She portrays the accents well and a real highlight of having the performer also writing the text is the innate understanding of the text and how each line is intended to be delivered. Although never takes herself too seriously which is a huge marker of this piece.
The performance is directed by Adam Brace. Adam’s direction really compliments both the writing and performance style. The use of lighting gave a really modernistic visual, the lights set the tone of the story that was being told as the atmosphere changed. The use of the side of the stage was fun as the show ‘paused’ to fix microphones, the water bottles getting gradually bigger was great physical comedy. One woman shows often have sets of only one chair, in the spotlight so this was not surprising. However, what really stood out was the way in which Brace had directed Kingsman to use the chair. Using the chair to depict different sets was imaginative. The complex physicality of the movement in the performance paired really beautifully with the deadpan humour.
One-Woman Show is a must see performance this year. I was disappointed that the book was not available as I wanted to buy it instantly to read. An absolutely hilarious, relatable comedy which really questions the portrayal of the modern woman we see on stage/screen. Where Fleabag broke boundaries portraying these tropes on stage/screen this show brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum mimicking these tropes. Get your tickets ASAP and keep an eye out for Liz Kingsman. She is a true talent and I feel fortunate to have witnessed her bare her soul on the traverse 1 stage.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/liz-kingsman-one-woman-show
Theatre Scotland 
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