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Sarah Callaghan: older and wiser

Christian Butler

Topics Politics

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Comedienne Sarah Callaghan’s new hour, The Ballad of Sarah Callaghan, comes to the Fringe after a tour of Australia and New Zealand. It was created as a tie-in with her poetry book of the same name, which is of course flogged after the show. The show mixes recitations from the book with her usual fiery stand up.

The youthful naiveté of her previous shows at the Pleasance has given way to a matured cynicism. The show’s comedic portion riffs on what it means to be part of gang, and she pushes this idea to hilarious extremes. She envies terrorists for feeling more part of a group than she does, and wonders why, in this #MeToo era, no one in the comedy industry has ever tried to assault her. Meanwhile, more serious poems, dealing with past miseries, reveal the disillusionment that drives the show, and serves to make the comedy even funnier.

In this new show, Callaghan is older, wiser and more cuttingly funny than ever.

★★★★☆

Christian Butler is a spiked columnist. Follow him on Twitter: @CPAButler

The Ballad of Sarah Callaghan is at Laughing Horse @ Finnegan’s Wake until 27 August.

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