After performing an early show to just one person, comedian Georgie Grier has become the viral hit of the Edinburgh Fringe
Sunsets might represent the belated dawn of a beautiful career for Georgie Grier. I had half-expected to experience a sinking feeling on watching a show that went from Edinburgh Fringe no-hoper to no-room in the space of 24 hours. There were cynical mutterings in the queue from avid punters – a couple from Newcastle, who’d rushed to book after it became news story, confided, a propos that viral Tweet – “I really hope it wasn’t a PR stunt”.
It wasn’t but was this still a case of undeserved drummed-up trade? Doubts melt swiftly in the presence of Grier’s captivating solo, which might have fallen by the wayside had it not been for that surprise shot of publicity. It’s not perfect as a piece of writing, but it showcases her remarkable facility for quick-changing between a comic register and a mood more anguished and even tragic. Beware of hype, sure, but I involuntarily thought of Phoebe Waller-Bridge – whose Fleabag got launched on the Fringe – as Grier shapeshifts as “Denver” the beguilingly barking presenter of a podcast series all about the joy, or not, of romcom.
The hour isn’t easy to encapsulate – because it also complicatedly satirises the vanity and frivolity of podcasting itself. The conceit is that we’ve been gathered to watch a live recording of the final episode in the series, with recaps of previous episodes and scatty asides we’re told will be edited out. Wearing a Legally Blonde-inspired pink button-up V-neck top and circumnavigating a park bench, Denver explains that the boundaries between life and filmic escapism got blurred; her developing romantic relationship with an ad agency work colleague is assisted and complicated by their decision to adhere to familiar rom-com tropes in order to record a podcast series as a tie-in for a bus-company client.
She bounces us through rosy-tinted, idealised frolicsome sessions – shopping trips, yoga classes, accompanied by oddball turns of phrase; her heart-throb, Jack, has a quiff like the summit of Everest: “Get to the top, and you shout – you’re so happy you want to rip your own face off!”