Tamar Broadbent: Get Ugly

Tamar Broadbent’s hour is, on the surface, that Fringe cliché: the break-up show. Having been dumped by a boyfriend of four years she recounts the struggles she has encountered since in regaining confidence and finding a place in the world as a single young woman. This is placed within broader concerns about society’s emphasis on beauty as a yardstick for women, and she rails against online culture where appearance is all.

But there's real talent here that finds novelty in what could be hackneyed material. Most obviously, Broadbent is a singer/songwriter, spending much of the show behind her keyboard delivering smartly-crafted comic songs. There's one about women who somehow manage to remain attractive while exercising in the gym, while a later one recounting her relationship with her sister is revelatory in its honesty. The touchstones here are Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, and she simultaneously draws on and mocks the kind of independent womanhood these performers sell. Her songwriting evidences real talent in the particular rhythms of musical comedy, even if they don't always build to the comic crescendo they might.

Broadbent is such a reassuring performer that content which in other hands might shock more conservative audience members is here instead unthreatening. Audience participation is handled well, and her rapport with the crowd culminates in the obligatory but enjoyable singalong. Boasting an original comic voice, assured musicianship, and a beguiling onstage presence, she's a geniune triple threat.