Edinburgh Fringe 2023
Egg: Absolutely Fine
Egg
Genre: Comedy, Feminist Theatre, Sketch Comedy
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard - Beside
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Sketch group Egg makes essential feminist points through silly characters, with the duo’s friendship as the overarching element.
Review
Egg: Absolutely Fine is the new show from sketch duo Egg, made up of Anna Leong Brophy and Emily Lloyd-Saini. Through enlightened writing and compelling performances they take the audience through a range of stories and characters that are playful and funny in their own right, but also have a strong contemporary resonance. Feminist topics permeate the sketches, showing different kinds of femininity and the diverse struggles that women go through, while finding the comedy in these. They give space to relatable and important topics that are routinely ignored in the male dominated comedy scene, through colourful characters, silly puns and smart punchlines.
Anna and Emily’s own story (or what they lead the audience to believe is their story) structures the show, delving into their wonderful, complex and sometimes co-dependent friendship. With seamless transitions the duo goes back and forth from sketches to a conversation between the two friends. They explore how their bond is affected by their work and own personal life experiences, blurring the lines between being friends, creative partners, and individuals, even though, as women, they have the pressure to always keep it light and constantly assure the audience that they are absolutely fine. It is an equally hilarious, genuine and moving portrayal of female friendship, propelled by the bravery of letting the viewers into their challenging personal moments.
That show is not without self-awareness, as they establish feminist ideals whilst also criticising the performative nature of explaining them in a show. Equally, the earnest and deep moments are reeled in to keep it light and funny, for the comedy show that was promised.
The production design is simple but effective, with just a couple of chairs, a few props and small costume changes. Anna and Emily’s strong performance talents bring the spunky characters to life, often requiring no more assistance than the change of a hat. Anna tackles the more intense roles with high energy and Emily portrays the more relatable ones with uncanny realness. Their closeness and chemistry is palpable, making the jokes hit harder. The sketch about the two little German boys was especially hilarious and heartfelt, performed with a striking believability.
The show is a cracking feminist ode to friendship, with a strong concept, hilarious and current sketches, and a mesmerising bond between the duo. However, as solid as using comedy metaphors to talk about real personal issues was, the short one hour run time sometimes didn’t give the drama enough time to hit. As well, the most surreal sketches weren’t as rooted in the overarching concept, which reduced their impact.
Egg: Absolutely Fine is a hilarious, ambitious and superbly written show, carried out by two wonderfully talented leads talking about crucial topics, and overall much more than absolutely fine.
