Clown princess Natalie Palamides has become a force to be reckoned with, scoring huge acclaim with her first Edinburgh outing, Laid, in 2017, which won her Best Newcomer award, and Nate (Netflix special 2020). Last year she directed Bill O’Neill’s superb The Amazing Banana Brothers, a Fringe highlight. Any new work by this performer is now very much on the radar.
So, it was an absolute delight to see that the 34-year-old LA-based performer was returning this year with a solo show to world premiere at the Traverse.
The show does not disappoint. It’s a hilarious hot-mess of clown mayhem in the style of a ’90s-style romcom, which stars Palamides as a pair of star cross’d lovers, having a quarrel at a party cabin in the woods, before midnight as the millennium fast approaches. Y2K man!! Anything could happen! And so the countdown begins. The twist is that Mark is played by the right hand side of her body and Christina by the left, she alternates between the lumberjack-styled dumb-assed male and the hysteria-prone prom-dressed girl with smeared mascara. Posture and voice changes are perfectly synchronised as accusations are thrown about. Mark has been flirting with other girls so Christina leaves, there’s an accident, then the show winds back to earlier happier times for Mark and Christina.
Palamides’ portrayal of love, betrayal and sexual ecstasy, where, you have been warned, she holds very little back, is a wonder to behold in her dual role. At it’s heart Weer is a portrayal of two sides of the same coin, two humans who can never fully express their true feelings and with frustrations which eventually curdle into toxic behaviour. But wait for it, there is a hilarious twist to explain Mark’s inability to fully commit.
Mark’s famous hunter uncle Elmer also makes an appearance, he always shot Wabbits and Weer, don’t you know, which (partly) explains the show’s title. And yes, it really is that silly! But brilliant!
A ground-breaking show that will go down in Traverse history, for its late night, over-running, mess-making absurdity and risk-taking hilarity. Natalie’s audience-glancing smirk ranks very high on my list of brilliant things at this years’ fringe.
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 10th August 2024
North West End UK Rating:
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Running time – 1hr 30mins.