Claire Hooper – Storybook (FringeTIX)
Claire Hooper @ The Pod
9:45pm, Wed 20 Feb 2008
God knows why I even shortlisted this; “as seen on ABC’s ‘Sideshow'” holds no weight for me, and in fact should have swayed me against it. But in cramming the pre-Fringe week schedule together, tickets were bought, and I found myself lamenting that fact that I was turning up to the show.
Early signs were super-very-extremely not good (nice freebie bookmarks aside). Whilst Hooper’s appearance and manner is pleasant, her wide-eyed innocence doing its best to charm, there were few opportunities to even smirk early in the show – let alone giggle. Talking about the deaths of your grandparents? Not usually a good tack for laughs. Turquoise poo? Oh dear. The audience interaction quiz was, likewise, devoid of mirth.
Using her self-penned storybook as a jumping point for “comedic” excursions (and I quoted that for a reason), Hooper’s material is based on herself, her parents and her fiancé – stick with what you know, right? – and it ever-so-gradually improves over the course of the show. The second half of the show might have entered the laugh-every-couple-of-minutes zone, but at that stage the Tom Tom Club had started in The Umbrella Revolution and Hooper had to battle against terrible sound bleed. I actually started feeling pity – rather than distaste – for the poor girl.
But here’s the thing:
The closer to the show is one of the most beautiful, sublime, surreal moments I’ve seen in years. It’s absolutely worth the price of admission. It’s really, truly wonderful. The only problem is that you have to sit through the 50 minutes of preceding dross to understand it in context.
So, in summing up: shit show. Fantastic ending.