By Amy Nancarrow
Comedian Alice Fraser sits on the stage with her trusty banjo and new tiny piano – “I need to use it enough to write it off on tax” – and sings songs about love, urban animals, and the fact that the craziest stories in her show sound like fiction, but are actually truth.
Fraser tells an hour long tale of her Hungarian grandmother, Buddhist upbringing, and the other inhabitants of her grandmother’s crumbling block of flats. From Luis, the Chilean gardener, to Mrs Duragalau, the Indian witch, Fraser masterfully tells the tale of their comedic, touching, and tragic existences. Fraser muses on Alan Jones, crazy sex tips, her hatred of people who don’t care about the environment, and hippies. Fraser is clearly incredibly intelligent, and is a fantastic storyteller. However, the most surprising thing is that despite being a comedy, The Resistance also features moments of seriousness, with Fraser questioning what it is to be a ‘good person’.
The thing that lets Fraser down is a somewhat unpolished performance. She had not memorised many of her lyrics, and used prompting notebooks on the stage during her songs. Likewise, the songs didn’t really serve much of a purpose; whilst a nice interlude, the show would have flowed better if she had kept going with her great stories. Despite this, Alice Fraser delivers a rather touching, surprising, and thought provoking show.
Kryztoff Rating: 3.5K
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