by Isabel Becker

EY UP!

Miss Donny of Doncaster is back after her 2007 debut, and this performance will absolutely blow your bloody socks off. [Note: if you didn’t read that sentence in a stinking Yorkshire accent then you need to go and spend some time in that smashing end of the country].

Donny is a natural connoisseur of Northern humour, she’s a quick-witted wizard of self-mockery who finds comedy in the smallest corners of her experiences. Her whistle-stop-tour of what went wrong since 2007 is a superbly-crafted narrative of self-discovery. We learn of Donny’s downfall from beauty pageant queen to an achingly boring job with stuffy colleagues, disastrous sexual experiences and the fatal deterioration of her father’s health, all whilst performing in excellent song and dance.

Donny’s ability to switch into the several characters she relays to the audience is highly impressive, and the use of a single chair as her sole piece of set is an indication of writer-performer Annabel York’s raw talent. The production is polished and Raw’s energy is at 100% the entire run. Although this highly-charged buzz is definitely necessary in order to encase the telling of Miss Donny’s erratic lifestyle, some more breaks, tension and build-up would have been appreciated to give the audience time and space to digest the jam-packed script.

All in all, Miss Doncaster 2007 is a fine example of when excellent writing, imaginative direction and skillful acting meet to create a wonderful production of first class comedic  theatre.

The Indecent Musings of Miss Doncaster 2007 runs through 9 February.

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