Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows is playing at the Pleasance Courtyard, Attic venue until the 26th of August. This excellent debut hour will pull you in many directions hysterically, emotionally, and absurdly but most definingly, humorously.
It’s lights up and the mission to amuse is on in The Attic, with Abby Wambaugh throwing down the gauntlet to provide us with an insight into their wonderfully overactive imagination and give us seventeen 3-minute sections of potential shows they have wanted to make over the years but not settled enough on one yet to choose. So, we’re getting them all. It’s a brilliant premise and offers Abby the chance to fully showcase their ability not only in comedy but also new writing, singing, and most importantly mime-basketball.
The belly laughs roll in as we transition from the straightforwardly funny to the downright absurd. One moment we have a snapshot of what it might be like to just have an hour of Abby in a traditional comedy show format and it’s really good. They are likeable, warm, and caustically witty throughout the whole hour, not afraid to challenge the audience’s intelligence and move on whether something landed or not. Three minutes later we’re following the escapades of a grown person in a banana suit, or dressed as an orange (as they confess, there’s a lot of fruit in the show). There is wonderful use of audience participation and Wambaugh really had us in the palm of their hand right from minute one to the final moment. Even when one section sneakily took a turn into a much more vulnerable place, it was so beautifully written that I think it was ultimately that section that gave the audience cause to give a standing ovation at the conclusion.
Abby Wambaugh: The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows is a joyous romp through the inner workings of a brilliant mind. We can only hope for 17 shows in the years to come.
