Fliss Russell: Life Is Fliss

Welcome to the weird world of Fliss Russell, failed actress, children's entertainer, time traveller and proud ginger. Today's show is heavy on audience participation and audience members find themselves being given balloon animals, dressing up as pirates and characters from Les Miserable, and being blamed for Russell's disastrous career.

Directed by Andrew Spiers from Idiots Of Ants, this show is tightly paced and pretty solid on laughs. Fliss darts in and out of characters, looping back and bouncing off herself and mostly this structure is used very cleverly, with her time travel character in particular being given a very clever ending to her narrative. Some bits do work better than others. Weirdly, the weakest character is Fliss herself. She's lovely, but the occasional switches from a character back to her "real" personality can be a bit jarring.

It's one of those shows that really depends on the audience and the energy they're willing to give the show. Today's audience is well up for it and the net result is something that's terrific fun and has a lovely atmosphere. Please don't go if you're hungover and looking for somewhere to put your feet up; not only will you not enjoy it but you'll spoil it for everyone else.