EDINBURGH 2019: Review: HELEN BAUER: LITTLE MISS BABY ANGEL FACE, Pleasance Grand

Helen Bauer's in the corner by the sound desk as the audience filter in, dancing like there's nobody watching.

Nevertheless, this comedian is being marketed as 'a self-confessed attention seeker', and she really wants you to watch.

The set is an inward look at all things Helen. She traverses her personal history to discover how she came to be the way she is: think of a child who didn't stop drinking fizzy pop when asked. And then mainlined Lucozade. We learn mainly of her mother, founder of a drama school, and minimally about her father ("the most inconsequential man you could ever meet").

For a debut Fringe effort, Bauer's show is faultlessly put together. She's committed to performing with an energy that is endearing, albeit borderline annoying, but her ability to involve the audience has the confidence of someone who has been on the circuit for many years.

There's comedy for everyone here: she navigates the inappropriate ("I'm part German and they've put me in a venue called the Bunker..."), the feminist, the downright silly. All in the name of self-indulgence. But there's more to the set than that, and you'll have to see it to find out...

Helen Bauer: Little Miss Baby Angel Face is at the Pleasance Courtyard until 25 August

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