 What do you do when you’re officially classed as a 9/11 survivor because your school that was just 400 metres from the collapsing World Trade Center was technically the closest... only for the media to crown the school a few metres further away as the real headline act?
If you’re Sofia May, you wait nearly 25 years and turn that moment in history into a stand-up set and reclaim your survivor throne. Then, in a twist of cosmic irony, you perform it in the basement of a bar in Edinburgh that has been designed to look like the inside of a plane, complete with tray tables, overhead compartments, and thankfully, no Taliban suicide squad. With around 3,700 shows at the Fringe and many of them comedy it can be genuinely hard to know where to start. But 9/11 Birds and the Bees offers one of the most arresting hooks on the entire programme. Sofia May delivers a masterclass in pitch-black comedy, blending biting personal anecdotes from her time living in Germany and New York with a jaw-dropping account of her 9/11 experience and one that would trump almost anyone else’s in a game of “Where were you on 9/11?” It’s the kind of story that, on paper, shouldn’t be funny and yet in Sofia’s hands, it absolutely is. Her delivery is fearless, and the material so far beyond the usual stand-up fare that it makes every “dating trauma” or “annoying in-law” anecdote feel laughably trivial. To quote from Peep Show: “Ooh, the Italians might leave the Euro, big wow.” It’s not exactly planes smashing into buildings, is it? Unlike the Taliban learning to fly planes in Florida, Sofia May actually knows how to land this basement plane and a crowd loving every minute of her set! Lee Hutchison 4/5 9/11 Birds and the Bees Venue: Flight Club at Laughing Horse @ West Port Oracle Dates: August 4th to 24th (excluding 5,12,19) Time: 1930 Tickets: www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/9-11-birds-and-the-bees |
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