By Ron Bingham
Babycakes showcases the talents of Bella Hull as a confident young stand-up telling the tale of her somewhat complicated life in her somewhat complicated, yet engaging Edinburgh Fringe debut.
The poster for Bella’s show has her looking all winsome and sweet, but don’t be deceived. Bella has very strong views, using very strong language, on what she deserves in life and is determined to convince the audience that having a dream straight out of Princess Diaries is perfectly normal, despite admitting to having no discernible skills, work ethic or ambition. hmmm. Maybe deep down she is fairly winsome and sweet after all.
As moments of darkness peek out amongst the stories of dodgy jobs, crazy parents (well, one crazy one and her mum), inadvisable romantic encounters and some twisted multi-tasking suggestions we sense that something deeper is going on. Bella loves taking the audience to unexpected places and her character work is so good you would assume she was a more seasoned performer. Babycakes is an ambitious performance with an engaging comic who has a bright career ahead of her.
Babycakes is on at Pleasance Courtyard