Tessa Waters: Volcano

The apocalypse is coming and Tessa Waters doesn’t want us to eat her, so over an hour she shows the audience just how much fun she is to be around. There’s dancing, games, sketches and stories, all of which are delivered with Waters’ infectious energy and joy. 

Volcano begins with Waters “tuning the audience”, a delightful clowning routine to gauge what we, as an audience, want from her and the show. It sets up the hour perfectly; we know we’re in good hands and Waters never betrays the audience’s trust. 

The key success of the show is the carefully crafted script matched with Waters’ ability to riff off herself and the audience with quick-witted improv, which keeps the audience captivated throughout. The use of meta storytelling (naming the drama school jargon and clown school techniques) gives a transparency and heartening dorkiness to the performance, but also helps to build the rhythm of the show to its climax. 

This is smart and technically clever writing with a strong performance to match. Waters is incredibly funny and engaging, and this is her most crowd-pleasing show to date.