Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Bebe Cave: CHRISTBRIDE
Bebe Cave with BIGHEAD Comedy
Genre: character comedy, Comedy, Historical, One Person Show
Venue: Jack Dome at Pleasance Dome
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
An hour of irreverent comedy, complete with a Scouse Jesus, nuns with ever changing accents, and enough Catholic jokes that’ll have your grandmother groaning in agony.
Review
Freeze. Record scratch. I bet you’re wondering how I got here, right? Burned as a witch? That’s the premise of Bebe Cave’s new hour-long character comedy, CHRISTBRIDE, which takes us through her life as a medieval mystic in the Middle Ages, trying to avoid terrible suitors, local frenemies, and being burned alive as a witch. Batilda Bigbum just doesn’t fit in with the rest of the townspeople of Littledick, and it’s the medieval era, so there’s not really much else to do except sit around, gossip, and have frenetic visions of the divine.
Well researched with a clear interest in the lives of medieval women, Cave carries the drama with a manic energy – so much so that she certainly doesn’t need the microphone to be heard, even at the back of the room. With some well-placed sight gags and quick costume changes that border on farcical, Cave presents an hour of irreverent comedy, complete with a Scouse Jesus, nuns with ever changing accents, and enough Catholic jokes that’ll have your grandmother groaning in agony.
With a set reminiscent of old Punch and Judy shows and enough costume changes to put Liberace to shame, Cave brings a full-on intensity to the role – so much so that you can fully buy into her transformation into a vessel for the divine. Her particular brand of chaotic comedy works well with this particular theme, and she puts on a performance that even includes the occasional true facts – so how’s that for a history lesson?
The pacing is so fast that you almost can’t keep up, however, and I’d argue that perhaps allowing the jokes to land for ever so slightly longer would help develop her character comedy. It’s a clever set up, with well thought out jokes, but the speed at which she runs through the plot almost detracts from the whole, as you simply just don’t have enough time to fully digest what’s being said before she moves onto the next bit with breakneck speed.
Regardless of any pacing issues, CHRISTBRIDE is a fun romp around medieval mysticism, with enough jokes to please any crowd – be sure to catch it before the end of the run to see a show unlike anything else this Fringe.
