It’s a sight for sore backs. Fringegoers accustomed to fold-out chairs like those in the Underbelly’s Buttercup venue may ache for the cosy golden sofa that has pride of place on a stage stuffed with bric-a-brac. That would help prove actor-writer Emily Weitzman’s point. This is a show that explores our intimate relationship with furniture by turning her past boyfriends into a locked drawer that never opens up, a rug that everyone walks over and a fridge (so, so cold).
That’s a witty idea but, like an ingenious storage system, Weitzman’s show keeps revealing hidden depths. She also achieves a feat that many fringe comedians don’t manage as she makes a whole out of familiar elements: a wacky concept, heartfelt memoir, multimedia diversions, the story of her show’s own creation and a closing cri de coeur for artistic pursuits. It is a very well-made play.
A stained sofa bed that can’t decide if it’s one or the other brings Weitzman a noncommittal relationship consummated in a basement to the sound of a washing machine. With scene-setting prowess and an off-kilter energy that recalls Kristen Schaal and Chelsea Peretti, she recounts hookups with furniture arranged by app (Hinge, natch) or meet-cutes with items left on the street.
But the show has pleasingly tactile material on all these objects we touch, watch, rely on or sleep with night by night – the memories they hold for us, their lives with past owners, their future when they outlive us. Our bodies seem positively fragile in comparison.
One-liners in a straight standup section compare guys with chairs, finding the former considerably less sturdy. There’s a shimmeringly silly chanson routine with sofa puppets on hands and feet. And Weitzman offers plenty of wordplay in the covetous world of high-end furniture, “velourgasms” and all.
Directed by Kate Doyle, it’s a beautifully controlled production that’s alternately ridiculous and revelatory and only requires a little more whittling in the final minutes. You’ll leave seeing your own clutter in a new light.
At Underbelly, George Square, Edinburgh, until 25 August
