REVIEW: Bloody Elle, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe ✭✭✭✭✭

Paul T Davies reviews Bloody Elle now playing at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Fringe

Lauryn Redding. Photo: Lottie Amor Bloody Elle

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

5 Stars

Book Tickets

Here is gig theatre at its best. Written, composed and performed by Lauryn Redding, her music is gorgeous both narratively and musically. When Elle meets Eve, a student working for the summer at Chip and Dips alongside Elle, the unexpected happens, love. Elle's world is turned upside down. It's a working class story by a performer from a working class background, still rare voices in theatre. Elle lives on the tenth floor of a high rise. Eve is on her way to Oxford university to study medicine. The show underlines how the class system blocks any real chances for relationships like this to survive. Redding is extraordinary, playing all the roles in the play with ease, engaging and warm, embracing the audience with her personality. It's a wonderful coming of age story and a coming out story, gaining cheers from the audience as we share our pride. It's funny, moving, glorious. Take the journey with Elle. Aug 10-14, 16-21, 23-28