Edinburgh Fringe 2013
Women Who Wank
Joanne Tremarco
Genre: Improvised Theatre
Venue: Cowgatehead
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Review
Part of the PBH Free Fringe, Women Who Wank happens in Cowgatehead, a hole in the wall that would be easy to miss, sandwiched between Underbelly and the Cowshed on Cowgate. It’s half ten at night, we’re tired, wired; some of us are a bit pissed. We’ve gathered in a small, boxy space that resembles nothing so much as a bomb shelter. There’s a pretty good crowd – evidently there are a lot of people interested in women who wank. Expectations are running high. One of the last people into the room is an extravagant, gaudy woman who talks with a posh slur as she swishes up and down the aisle, looking for a seat in the packed house, complaining about what she’s sure will be a shit show. She couldn’t be further from the truth.
What are our expectations for a show with such a provocative title? The population of Joanne’s audience is about two-thirds women, and the men are mostly here with dates. There are a few single men present. The atmosphere is sexually charged even before Joanne begins polarizing the room, calling us out, trying to uncover our secrets even as she hauls our curiosity up on stage for us to scrutinize. Bombs rain down on us from the show in the room above as we retreat into the wartime bunker where Joanne promises to shield us from harm. She is all over the place, mad-woman, character actress, saint of purity and prurient wanker, enticing us wickedly. Her improvisational skills are captivating as she traipses through her youth with us, uncovers moments of vulnerability and truth, and fences with a pair of particularly vociferous late-night hecklers with alternating severity and tenderness.
I won’t say too much about the content of this show because it’s my opinion that you should check it out and discover it for yourself – and, equally, as a totally improvised show, the content will be completely different on any given night. But after an hour that flew by, I’m tempted to go back and see what other secrets lurk within Joanne’s bunker.
