More Moira Monologues

Bisset, male, author. Plays Moira, female, cleaner. Completely straight.

And she's a foul mouthed, deeply funny, chain-smoking delight. It's easy to see why this show won a Fringe First in 2017.

This is deeply confessional, but still light as a meringue, and all at the same time, covers acres, hectares of difficult, sensitive and tricky ground.

This ranges from Scottish Independence, delightfully exposed in a vodka-slugging train journey revelation with Clive from Hampshire, to immigration and homelessness, to the regeneration of Falkirk from the (highly rated) Kelpies to the (shite) Falkirk Wheel, and confessional insight into what’s really in a Falkirk Salad.

#MoreMoiraMonologues is brilliant and a very worthy sequel to @MoiraMonologues - it’s best to see them@both as one play with the interval. 6.30pm and 8pm @ScotStoryCentre - unmissable, 5***** and running only till 11th. Don’t miss that unique chance. @edfringe #EdFringe2018 pic.twitter.com/5zwGclT3E9

— Roza Nazipova (@nazipova) August 2, 2018

Moira’s one-word put-downs of Glasgow and Edinburgh are worth the price of admission alone: Go to Glasgow - knifed! Go to Edinburgh - patronised! Mebbe best to stay in Fawkirk.

Moira has moved on in years and in the weight of emotional baggage from the original Monologues, first performed in Edinburgh in 2010, but there is no dilution of skill, laughter and sheer damn fun here.

She takes no shit from anyone. But in her story of being gradually bled of her Bingo winnings by a refugee family, and her reluctant gift of a bicycle to a 14-year old tealeaf, she reveals her basic big-hearted decency, her latent xenophobia, her foul bloody mooth, and her True North moral compass.

From her journey to the wilds of Inverness to her fateful venture to clean inside another woman’s house (who unknown to her, is now inside her former partner’s pants) is an acid-etched comic copperplate, and as with all of the characters that Bissett effortlessly brings to life, the mannerisms, facial expressions and body language are all burnt onto the retina with stunning clarity. Bissett is a hugely talented performer, and he will make you laugh hard and long.

I recommended that you book both to see this, and to see the original Moira Monologues which are staged at 6:30 every night, as the two pieces work perfectly together, with a half hour between where you can enjoy a drink and a bite to eat in the hugely civilised Scottish Storytelling Centre.

Go.

★★★★★ 5 stars

Click to book tickets for this show
Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30)
August 4-11, 8:00pm (1hr),  £11-13

Photo credit: Roza Nazipova