By Ron Bingham
Get Happy is Anna’s sophomore show at the Fringe. It’s a sort of sequel to last year’s Woman Of The Year, revisiting a number of the characters including the beauty blogger (or is it vlogger now?) from Newcastle, the overly chirpy vicar desperate to beat the rival church down the road, a lovely elderly lady looking for a lover who’s not about to pop his clogs, and a wellness guru who wants us all to be happy.
Anna is a very accomplished character sketch comedy performer. She also indulges in a bit of audience participation (you can’t hide) and luckily for Anna, the audience I was with were very enthusiastic in joining in. She’s very charming and good at making her audience feel positive about taking part. A friendly pianist is also on stage throughout, filling in while she is changing characters and providing accompaniment to Anna’s songs.
Get Happy flows nicely with barely a gap, the jokes are well delivered and they work well with each character.You don’t have to see the previous show (many in today’s audience hadn’t) but you might want to after seeing this (she is performing an encore season of Woman Of The Year at Gilded Balloon at Old Tolbooth Market (https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/anna-nicholson-woman-of-the-year ) until August 18). Well delivered and well received, it garnered a rapturous applause from an almost full house at the end of the hour.
Get Happy is on at Just the Tonic at The Caves until August 25
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/anna-nicholson-get-happy