Review: Katy Brand, Grand Opera House, York (From York Press)

Review: Katy Brand, Grand Opera House, York

11:03am Tuesday 27th April 2010 in Comedy By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk

Katy Brand has taken her Big Ass ITV2 show on the road, stopping off at York’s Grand Opera House for one night only on St George’s Day.

If you are unfamiliar with her work, you need only think of the French and Saunders comedy sketch performances of the 1990s and you would be somewhere close to the brand of humour Katy goes for.

She takes celebrities, everyone from Lady Gaga to Mariah Carey, Lily Allen and Kate Winslet, and puts them under the microscope, squeezing out their essence into cheeky little nuggets that kept us chuckling throughout a performance that lasted a little over an hour.

Many of her funnier characters though are her own inventions, with the highlight for me being Captain Rosie Fielding doing the version of Beyonce’s All the Single Ladies, performed by Ms Brand on the BBC’s Sport’s Relief show.

Her portrayal of the drunken woman whose life has gone dramatically off the rails is both touching and poignant and a reminder of the self-destructive tendencies we all possess at times.

Her one-woman show borrowed heavily from her television series, with old favourites like HM The Queen giving it 110 per cent as well as new additions, including Super Nanny Jo Frost and Charlotte Church.

The audience reflected her broad appeal, with everyone from students to pensioners turning out on the night to see her sing and joke her way through a seamless performance and numerous costume changes.

In all, the end result was not as polished as the TV show, but a quality performance that left you wanting more.