Review: Siân Docksey: Pole Yourself Together!

Pole Yourself Together! is Siân Docksey’s fourth appearance at the Fringe, but her first astride an eights foot metal pole. Combining her hobby of pole dancing with her alternative brand of comedy leads to an entertaining and offbeat Fringe hour. 

For the most part, Pole Yourself Together! isn’t a show concerned with covering well-trodden ground about the politics of pole dancing or its relationship to feminism, and it’s all the better for it. Rather, the inherent sexuality of the pole is juxtaposed with Docksey’s discussion of her anxieties about right-wing politics, climate change and millennial malaise to great effect.

Docksey delivers her comedy with a wide-eyed and slightly frenetic energy which lends itself well to the subject matter and endears her to the audience. At times, the writing verges on being a little online and reminiscent of a specifically Twitter lexicon, but Docksey balances it with original takes on everything from astrology to the UK’s privatised rail networks. The strongest sections are those where she fully embraces surrealism, donning absurd costumes and props, and pole dancing to wholly unpredictable soundtracks and scenarios.

The unique mix of ingredients in Pole Yourself Together! will likely take some Fringe-goers by surprise and perhaps that’s its greatest strength. Come for the impressive pole-dancing ability; stay for the surprisingly funny existential dread.