EDINBURGH 2015- BWW Reviews: DIARY OF A SHANGHAI SHOWGIRL, Free Sisters, August 22 2015

As the audience file in for this performance of Diary of a Shanghai Showgirl, Norman Gosney apologies for the "skewy tech". His projector broke down five minutes earlier and he has managed to get it back up and running, but at a slight angle. I actually thought this was quite apt given the dank little venue and I really liked that this show wasn't slick because it made it quite endearing. We are also told at the beginning of the performance that this is the third day of the run but it may be final as the Chinese embassy have found out it is being staged and are not happy about it.

Diary of a Shanghai Showgirl is a really interesting story. Norman moved from the UK to New York in the 1970's and ran some very successful nightclubs and speakeasys. It was in New York he met the other host of our show, his wife Miss Amelia. The pair take us through their history together and their move to Shanghai to open up China's first burlesque club. The club was shut down by the authorities and they had their bank accounts frozen and 32 hours to leave the country.

There are a few kind of skits where Norman and Amelia act out some of their story. Norman, bless him, really cannot act. His attempts make this show all the more genuine. The whole thing is very low budget but I don't think the performance suffers as they have such an excellent story behind them. I actually think it enhances the experience as there are no distracting backdrops or gimmicks. Norman made a really interesting comparison of the freedom that people have at the Fringe to the censorship he faced in China. In China they were required to submit videos of the performances they were staging a whole two weeks ahead to have them approved.

I really enjoyed Diary of a Shanghai Showgirl which made me all the more irritated by the venue. This show is running as part of the free fringe but some audience members seem to think basic manners don't apply if you haven't paid for a ticket. The venue set up meant there was a loud chatter from the bar area throughout, audience members were to-ing and fro-ing with drinks, texting and taking pictures. This performance deserves so much better from a venue!

Timings for Diary of a Shanghai Showgirl are available on the edfringe website.

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