Frankie Thompson: Horrible Things

‘If you laugh it's comedy, if you don't it's performance art’ runs the undoubetdly laughter-worthy tag line Frankie Thompson’s new show, which not only points to how weird her work is but also to the fact that the genre is genuinely uncertain: 2022’s superbly weird Catts was classed as comedy; 2023’s follow up Body Show was in the theatre section of the Fringe brochure. For Horrible Things it’s back to comedy with an hour in which Thompson explores… horrible things, both real and conceptual. Assuming she’s not radically changed her MO, the key thing to remember here is that her performance is in no way done in a stand-up style, but rather involves her lip syncing disquietingly to a mad collage of vidoe clips, like a sort of Adam Curtis fever dream. A genuinely singular performer.