Review: A Terrible Show For Terrible People

What’s the most terrible thing you’ve ever seen on stage? Bonnie He is throwing the gauntlet down that she might be able to top it in this international debut of almost totally silent clowning. A Terrible Show for Terrible People is an invitation for us to indulge in the worst of ourselves: laughing at a woman being very silly for an hour with a suitcase full of props and batshit vibes. 

Fellating pickles, licking toilet seats and disrespecting the dead are all on the cards, but maybe it's hard to truly be stand-out shocking amid the noise and regular afternoon naked-ness of the Fringe. He’s performance is old school slapstick, performed with full dedication to silliness and mischief. Dressed in a black Lycra bodysuit, topped with neon pink underwear, she cavorts in and out (and indeed across) the audience with Puck-like enthusiasm. Her interactions, if forceful, are generally playful rather than gross-out; her chowing down on various bouquets of flowers a hilariously bizarre repeated motif. Despite her inviting you to slap her bum and poking gherkins in your ear, there’s no darkness to her comedy. It’s Benny Hill meets surprisingly friendly sex dungeon; delightful perverted nonsense.

It’s He’s last act of the night that truly sets the bar for brilliant stupidity, a burlesque act with a maternity twist. It’s the real watch through your fingers while turning to your mate and asking 'what the HELL have you brought me to?’ stuff that makes for Fringe legends.