I have reviewed Lorna Rose Treen a few times over the years, through Skin Pigeon and 24 Hour Diner People, so Now That’s What I Call Characters presents something of a dilemma. This is essentially Treen’s greatest hits album, and I already own most of the records.
All the favourites are here. The man with guns for hands, the extraordinarily long-armed trucker, the spy and femme fatale, and the Girl Guide proudly displaying the special badge she earned for killing Bin Laden, her terrorist assassination badge, naturally. I particularly enjoy the girl with braces, who keeps popping up throughout the evening.
Treen herself remains immensely likeable. Her comedy has always had a bumbling, stumbling quality. Lines occasionally trip over themselves, characters threaten to unravel and, wonderfully, she even refers to a list of them in plain sight. Nothing feels particularly tight, everything feels slightly shambolic, yet Treen owns every mistake so completely that the shambles becomes part of the act.
The Pleasance Cabaret Bar is the largest space I have seen her perform, a sprawling, almost vacuous room, but she commands it impressively. Treen studied philosophy at Edinburgh University and knew the building during her student days, giving her the opportunity to explore its supposedly spooky history. Dig deep enough, apparently, and you discover it was built on the site of an old Indian… restaurant.
Audience interaction keeps things unpredictable. Sitting in the front row, I nearly became part of the scenery when Treen, stumbling through the darkness with a flashlight, almost went over my outstretched legs. Elsewhere, someone gets to throw beer over her and, inevitably, the tail comes out and starts wagging.
The problem is simply familiarity. These characters have not changed significantly and, having seen Treen several times, I wanted more new material. A greatest hits album is great fun, but less satisfying than the early concept one.
That leaves Now That’s What I Call Characters with two rather different audiences. Treen veterans may wonder whether there is enough here to justify another visit. But Treen virgins? Absolutely. This is a ready-made introduction to one of the Fringe’s most loveably shambolic character comedians.
If you already own the album, you know the tunes. If you don’t, press play.
Playing until August 23rd 2026,https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/2026LORNARP
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 17th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating:
Running time – 1hr
There are tribute bands, and then there are those which, for a couple of hours…
Dear Joanna, My Favourite Animals Are Scorpions is an unsettling exploration of childhood friendship, adolescent…
Tandem is a writing collective established and run by playwrights Jennifer Adam, Amy Hawes and…
There is something inherently difficult about making theatre about an event that is still unfolding,…
Short but perfectly formed, Balisong occasionally comes perilously close to feeling like a public-information film about the…
‘Making Art for Art’s sake.’ A quote repeated almost too many times to count and…