A free comedy cracker from Luisa Omielan ...

In a cramped, stuffy room clad in stripey woollen leggings, Luisa Omielan shakes her booty plenty much and presents us with the question that’s been gnawing deep into our psyche. What would Beyoncé do?

Would Beyoncé break up her brother’s poo in the loo with a stick? No! This is just one of many things that Beyoncé would not do, along with mooching round after loser guys who aren’t interested and hopelessly moping after a break-up. So why the F do such things keep happening to Luisa Omielan? Using the bootilicious Miss Knowles as a half-ironic backdrop to her own life’s events, Omielan takes us on tour of all the crappy events that have taken up the last year or so of her life, linked up with all the right tunes in the right places from the defiant diva herself. From heartache through self-image to self-harm in the family, she veils what is quite a hard-hitting set with her own brand of high-energy wackiness and her bundles of charisma.

She’s tackling some quite knotty issues but you never feel like this is anything but fun. Admittedly at times her delivery does becomes a little relentless and her voice, modulating through a range of accents (including the various cow dialects of the world, on demand) can be a bit full-on: but she plays this to her advantage, and in a bigger space (with a more generous window allowance) her larger-than-life presence will play better than most comedians.

There is no doubt she’s on the up. Go catch her on the Free Fringe while you still can – next year will surely see her in a very different venue.

4 stars

Luisa Omielan – What Would Beyoncé do is on at 10.45pm at the Meadow Bar

Review written by Sarah Sharp