Bubbly Glaswegian Alana Jackson makes her Fringe debut with a bang, energetically launching into rapid-fire routines ranging from funny drinking stories, her time working in pubs and bars, and her years studying drama. She’s got some solid material, such as her incredulity at the concept of ‘sober-curious’ people and Glaswegian post-funeral parties at the pub at which she worked.

However, where Jackson shines is in her knack for impressions, with an impressive range of voices that reveals her acting ambitions. From accurately mimicking the English voiceover of the BBC Three classic Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents, to American self-help guru Mel Robbins and an apologetic drunk Aussie flatmate, Jackson makes these characters come to life with impressive accuracy, adding a level of versatility to her routines. A closing moment involving a special guest could have potentially seemed overindulgent, but Jackson makes it work by skilfully tying it back to an earlier routine involving the ‘go ask Angela’ safety word when she worked in a bar.

Jackson also shows a flair for physical comedy in her enactment of her third year drama assignment – to impersonate a plastic bag! You wouldn’t expect that to be an impressive feat, but she skilfully uses it to get laughs from the packed audience.

Jackson has a good rapport with said audience, not only effectively using them for interactions but also skilfully dealing with the occasional outburst, even if they are mild in tone. Jackson also effectively subverts the need to have a darker element to her show, with a ‘traumatic’ Megabus journey being the worst it gets in terms of personal suffering – which has the audience in stitches.

‘Last Orders‘ is an impressive debut show, with Jackson showing that she has what it takes to entertain a large audience with not only jokes but also strong vocal impressions and an impressive stage presence. It’ll be good to see her back next year.

‘Last Orders‘ is at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower – Pip until Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 17:00