It’s always fun to find a new clown on the block. Georgia Polly-Taylor flushes all of your expectations and takes it to a whole new level.
Delightfully purple, ecstatically joyful, riddled with IBS flare ups but aware that she’s destined for the spotlight, Georgia Polly-Taylor’s Hot Mess is a new clown on the block. And she is something to behold.
Georgia Polly-Taylor: Very Hot. Very Messy. is Polly-Taylor’s Edinburgh debut and follows celebrity nepo-baby clown Hot Mess as she makes her own feathery debut at the Met Gala. Things, however, don’t go to plan for Hot Mess. An IBS flare-up turns that red carpet brown. A liberal smearing of the episode in the tabloid headlines and a disparaging call from her godfather Daniel Craig plunge her to a level of fear, self-doubt, and dashed hopes from which only her loving audience of loyal followers (and a few visits from the toilet spirit Stan) can pick her up. And, by the end, we gladly do!
Quite simply, Polly-Taylor makes clowning look easy and gives such an unpretentious, grounded performance, it is impossible not to walk away feeling a bit more human. Ever-concerned with the pressure to reveal “more” of herself (and she does) in order to save her muddied reputation, Hot Mess teaches us that the poopiest of disasters are perhaps the best opportunities to be vulnerable with each other, to lean on one another (literally and figuratively), and to ask liberally for helping hands when you need them (which a lot of audience members – myself included – did, on and offstage).
Directed and Produced by the multi-talented Nancy Hannigan and inspired by Polly-Taylor’s personal experience with chronic illness, this is a wacky piece of wild theatre that pleasurably flushes all the stuff that really doesn’t matter in life directly down the toilet.
For now, Hot Mess might still be relatively unknown. But there’s certainly something to be said for an artist who doesn’t need a full crowd to start cooking with gas (of which there is a lot in this show). You’d be wise to get a ticket before she starts selling out.
Show Listing: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/georgia-polly-taylor-very-hot-very-messy
LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Venue: Belly Laugh, Underbelly Cowgate
Dates: Aug 5th -30th (excluding 17th)
Time: 16:15 (60 mins)
Ticket prices: £15.00 / concessions £14.00
Fringe box office: 0131 226 0000 / http://www.edfringe.com
Suitable for 16+