Durham Fringe Festival 2026
Kelly Rickard Burning Love
Kelly Rickard
Genre: Comedy, Stand-Up, Storytelling
Venue: Fabio's bar
Festival: Durham Fringe Festival
Low Down
A new show from comedian Kelly Rickard. Kelly Rickard Burning Love. “is not, as it first sounds, a tale of a nasty bout of cystitis. But rather, an hour of Stand Up and Song from the multi-award winning comic, Kelly Rickard. Before Stand Up, Kelly toured as a singer. What goes on tour, stays on tour, right? Unless you’re a Stand Up with a show to write. In which case, you tell it all…”
Review
The is an hour-long solo show, rooted in Kelly Rickard;s personal story, a tale of growing up, learning what love is all about and meeting the dark side of life, men and the entertainment business. This is a witty, sharply written and performed show. Rickard is at home with, and fully on top of her material. The writing is full of spot-on observation, reflections on life, love, family, relationships and dealing with the darkness and light in others. It’s all delivered matter of fact, conversationally and then come power-punches of wisdom, reflection and story-ettes of meeting those challenges in life that ultimately define us.
It’s a deep show, often deceptively light and the treasure here is that, one moment, this is pure-stand-up, and then we find ourselves in some impressively delivered storytelling. Timing and pacing are excellent, assured and then it becomes theatrical rather than stand-up. Not a line is lost, every moment filled, borne on the wings of a Welsh accent used to the full to ensure the vital bits reach the very back of the venue. The written story is the anchor but there are plenty of improvised quips, banter and just the right amount of audience interaction to keep it zesty and fresh.
There are darker, important themes running like veins of gold throughout the comedy and then the ending is dignified and a bit hard to bear for all the right reasons.
There are a couple of songs in the show and, though funny and well delivered, run a little behind the spoken word in terms of clarity and delivery. One more song would rebalance the show and they just need a bit of work to make the whole show more consistent. The show would not lose much without them but I can also see the potential for finessing them as the show develops over its run.
The audience loved it. I loved it. I think Kelly loved delivering it. I think Nick is proud as punch. Who is Nick? You’ll have to go and find out. Fine writing, superb delivery from a well-scaffolded storyteller.
