Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Barbara Fernandez Singing, Sagging and Shagging
Barbara Fernandez
Genre: New Writing, Solo Show, Stand-Up, Story Songs
Venue: Laughing Horse Free Fringe
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Barbara Fernandez Singing, Sagging and Shagging is built around the idea that trauma can be presented with humour, and Fernandez doesn’t shy away from sharing her own. She takes us on a whirlwind journey through her life
Soaring vocals, belly laughs, and touching tales—that’s what you get when you spend an hour in Barbara Fernandez’s presence. She’s fearless, endearing, and utterly unflinching, a force of nature who leaves us laughing and reflecting. Fernandez is fearless, endearing, and utterly unflinching. She’s vulnerable yet confident, raunchy yet touching An hour in Barbara Fernandez’s company is an absolute joy.
Review
In a tiny space upstairs at Bar 50, Barbara Fernandez welcomes her audience with a song welcoming us, kicking off a cabaret show that swings from raucous humour to deeply touching moments. Edinburgh is full of intimate venues like this, where audiences gather in the hopes of discovering the next big thing, and Fernandez’s show certainly delivers an experience that’s hard to forget.
Fernandez has the audience hooked from the start, with one liners and stories that dance between mild and quite raunchy, depending on your compass on these things. It’s refreshing and empowering to see an older woman take to the stage with such confidence, unashamed of her past mistakes and bad choices—things we’ve all done but rarely talk about. She shares her mental health struggles openly, offering insight into her life with a lightness that never feels self-indulgent.
As a singer, Fernandez is a consummate professional, with a gorgeous resonant voice. She uses the microphone masterfully, always perfectly positioned to ensure every note resonates without overpowering the small space. The linking stand-up segments between songs feel a little less polished, but she is relatively new to stand up. Once she starts singing or telling a story, though, Fernandez is in her element, and the audience is swept along with her.
The show is built around the idea that trauma can be presented with humour, and Fernandez doesn’t shy away from sharing her own. She takes us on a whirlwind journey through her life, starting in Paris at 22 and moving through a series of boyfriends, husbands, jobs, and eventually, a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). But this is no heavy-handed exploration of mental health, the stories she shares often burst into song, with well-known tunes transformed by snappy, new lyrics that deliver delicious fragments of her life. In one particularly memorable moment, she pauses to ask the audience if they’re ready for the serious bit—a brief but insightful explanation of BPD, delivered with the same warmth and humour that permeates the entire show followed by a song about BPD, gentle, lyrical – a highlight of the show.
Overall, soaring vocals, belly laughs, and touching tales—that’s what you get when you spend an hour in Barbara Fernandez’s presence. She’s fearless, endearing, and utterly unflinching, a force of nature who leaves us laughing and reflecting. Fernandez is fearless, endearing, and utterly unflinching. She’s vulnerable yet confident, raunchy yet touching An hour in Barbara Fernandez’s company is an absolute joy.
And, in true Fringe fashion, she wraps up her show with a plea for reviews, donations, and, most importantly, spreading the word about this must-see show. And, being Barbara it’s in song!
