Claudia O'Doherty – The Telescope

Quirky Aussie comic Claudia O'Doherty says of her latest show: 'It's difficult theatre. It's not a comedy, so don't laugh.' Well, this highly inventive hour must be funny, because the show bagged itself a Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination last year. O'Doherty starts by introducing her piece of confronting theatre, 'The Telescope'. Very quickly, however, she fumbles, gets out of synch with the backing video and begins trying to distract us from the play's bizarre events continuing around her. The 'show's gone wrong' gimmick has been seen plenty of times, but O'Doherty executes it better than anyone, and commits to it throughout. Upsetting theatre's never been so funny.