The Leith Festival began today, but, unlike previous years, there appears to be very little in the programme to get excited about. But this gig stood out as we've seen Keara before and always enjoyed her stuff.
Others obviously felt the same for the room was almost full and the crowd looking forward to the night. What we got was clearly a work in progress, a routine that has yet to be fully formed and given the polish of the finished article. Keara seemed nervous at the off and did try hard to get a bit of audience participation going. But this is Edinburgh, where audiences sometimes find it hard to shake off their collective reserve, and tonight's group must have felt like hard work to Murphy at times.
She's a real pro though, and got better as the hour and a bit went by. There was a lot of reliance on her notes, and appeared to be editing her material as she went along, so the performance felt stilted at times. But there's some good stuff there and when it came together it worked well. I enjoyed the tales of her Irish mother, and there's not many shows where you get a direct comparison between a rampant rabbit and a statue of the virgin Mary. Keara is at her best showing off her acting and impersonation skills and the moments where she assumed other characters showed just how confident and fluid a performer she can be.
But Murphy is such a likeable personality, and is naturally funny, so that it's easy to forgive her a few shortcomings and tonight certainly won't put me off wanting to see her again. Indeed it would be good to see a reprise of this show - once it's had the practice and polish it so clearly deserves.
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