The Oh F**k Moment

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An "Oh fuck!" moment is one of those all-too-familiar times when we realise that we've just done something very stupid indeed. Sent a disparaging email about someone to that very person? Accidentally invited your boss around for sex? Crashed a plane after pulling a lever a few seconds too soon? Welcome to the club!

Set up in a manner akin to a group therapy session, performers Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe start to talk about their "Oh fuck!" moments, and ask us to do likewise. No one's forced to or made to feel uncomfortable –instead the willing contributions make this an intimate and engaging experience. 

It's a captivating performance, and indeed a hugely likeable one, but it's doubtful that the premise of The Oh F**k Moment is quite as profound as Walker and Thorpe make out. The pair want to hammer home the idea that, while we may hold ourselves to impossibly high standards and feel dreadful when we fall short, our original position is that of the fuck-up, the screw-up, the clumsy idiot. It's reassuring, of course, but—and this is coming from a man reconciled to the fact that barely a day goes by without fucking something up—is it really a revelation? 

Nevertheless, the friendly intimacy and poetic lyricism of this production are inherently appealling. As a cathartic outlet for sharing our more embarrassing moments, it's certainly one of the more novel Fringe productions out there this year.