The debutants are sparkling this year, and the effervescent Louise Atkinson is among the most eye-catching, and not just because of her fiery mane of hair. The Hull comedian has arrived with a brilliant hour of immaculately-structured anecdotes, incisive observations, and great jokes, all centred around the malleable theme of friendship.
The very antithesis of Yorkshire’s stereotypical dourness, the affable Atkinson instantly brings the crowd onside as she launches into the first of many tales featuring perhaos her best friend Steph; one of a few special mates that earn the endearment ‘nobhead’. In Louise’s hands, Steph is painted as sage nightclub philosopher, destroyer of car upholstery, and unintentional master of the malapropism (‘A list as long as me arse!’ is particularly good). Atkinson subtly puffs out her already distended East Ridings vowels and magnifies her hand gestures to capture her friend with vivid affection. ‘Mates’ only gets more captivating from there.
Where it would be understandable for a debut hour to serve as a basic introduction to a comedian, Atkinson’s approach is more oblique but just as effective. With a surgical focus on her theme, and through the depictions of her friendships – both life-long and those that burn briefly but brightly in the crucible of nightclub loos – her own character gradually emerges. It’s an autobiographical hour for sure, but one in which Atkinson herself appears in the inverse, like a photo negative.
And she’s picked a great theme. One that’s universal, but versatile enough to allow for a myriad of tangents. It’s like the central hub of a cartwheel, from which jut various spokes like regional identity, masculinity, toxicity, and the very real bereavement brought by the end of a friendship. Her structuring is as elegant as her storytelling is robust. It also allows for some basic but hugely effective interaction with her audience, and again with every topic there’s something to which every audience member is able to identity.
Louise frequently gets compared to Victoria Wood and you can see the lineage, but you can also guarantee that if she was male then the go-to hack pigeonhole would be Alan Bennett. A more contemporary point of reference would be Maisie Adam. Not just because they both embrace their Yorkshire backgrounds, but both share an easy, almost effortless stagecraft and arrived with debut hours seemingly fully-formed as comedians. It should also be noted that Adam also begun her journey towards cult national treasure from this very Narnia of a room. Atkinson has everything in her arsenal to suggest a similar upward trajectory.
The more one reflects on ‘Mates’, the more it impresses; the more a particular turn of phrase, or even an unusual inflection or emphasis on a particular word will spring to mind. As a debut, it’s difficult to think of a more successful one. The subject matter is broad and simple but not too safe, the storytelling is evocative, and her jokes and comic timing are superb. More than anything, you would love to spend more time in her company. On the strength of this hour, to be considered among Louise Atkinson’s nobheads would be a fine thing indeed.
‘Mates’ runs until Sun 27 Aug 2023 at Gilded Balloon – The Wee Room at 15:20