EDINBURGH 2025: Review: LAURA DAVIS: DESPAIR IS BENEATH US, Monkey Barrel 2

Full of juxtapositions and fizzing comedy, Aussie-but-Edinburgh-resident Laura Davis has opened up their heart with witty hour Despair Is Beneath Us. Recounting the toughest year of their life thus far, Davis presents a funny and vulnerably fragile tonic for anyone also going through some sh*t (isn’t everyone?).

Their hand outstretched with a festive noisemaker, jokes and joy are here in a frenzy to balance the darkness. Much like the daffodils that grow atop the chasm in which Persephone falls to Hades, Davis is sunny and full of life, conjuring up light in humour-as-defence within the underbelly that has been this season of their life, all the while calling up Greek myth and unique ways to die as part of their spell. They playfully poke at their own masochism and juggle gags about ducks, existentialism and sleep paralysis. 

In Ghost Machine of Edinburgh Fringe 2018, Davis spoke of polishing silver at a cast aside day job and in this, their thirteenth show, Despair delves into more of that moonlighting, tossing in anecdotes of being a line cook to tales of temping; there is a dig at JK Rowling within this space which is normally a Harry Potter-themed escape room outwith the Fringe. Such fun! Such silly!

It’s not a belly-laugh, paint-by-numbers stand-up set, but Despair Is Beneath Us is designed as an elevation from that; it’s a conversation from a very funny person about some not-funny things... but also a lot of actually-funny things; unorthodox comedy buffs and lovers of charged performance monologue will dig in and delight in this rich and poignant show.
 

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