Phlegm Fatale
Amy Bodossian @ Saldechin
11:15pm, Fri 25 Feb 2011
Phlegm Fatale is a bloody great name for a show – a tad confusing, however, when coupled with Amy Bodossian’s coy glance in her promo materials. The link is made at the start of the show, when she wanders coughing and spluttering through the crowd, sneezing on some patrons, wiping her nose on others, before croaking through the titular opening song.
Sadly, that opener was the only really phlegmy reference.
Happily, the rest of Bodossian’s material was brilliant fun. Accompanied by Paul Buckley (on piano, guitar, clarinet, and the occasional vocal foray), Amy danced a thin line between so-quirky-I-want-her-for-myself, to so-sexually-aggressive-that-I’m-scared… but her voice and sense of humour are fantastic throughout. And, given I still have the tissue that she (vigorously) rubbed on her crotch before draping over my face, I think it’s pretty safe to say which side of the line she finished up on.
It’s very much a cabaret performance, with her collection of songs bookended by moments of (bloody funny) audience banter… with a few (blushingly explicit) poems thrown in for good measure. Whilst Bodossian does tend to err on the rude side of life, her digressions into childhood were a delight… and, whilst a far reach for the flu-based theme of the show, the inclusion of Blame It On The Boogie was perfectly pitched, with her own shamelessness and daring coming to the fore.
In short: Amy Bodossian is great. The only negative from the show was that I started feeling a little flu-bound myself as I left Saldechin…