Danielle Ward: Dani Frankenstein

There's a whole lot of attitude coming from Dani Frankenstein, aspiring K-Pop star (that is, broadly speaking, South Korean pop music) and the alter ego of Danielle Ward. The loose premise for the show is that Ward's useless manager has set up a live broadcast of her performance, involving "all the hip hops" so that she can break into the market and become the star she deserves to be. It is a very loose premise, and doesn't need to be anything else; Ward's sassily explicit lyrics and onstage bonhomie are so strong and engaging it's easy to forget there's any kind of an arc to the show. 

There's something marvellously empowering and honest about Ward's no-holds-barred take on female sexuality. As she calls out at the beginning, "this show's going to be a hell of a lot better if we pretend it's not half past 12 in the afternoon." It's graphic and funny, with tracks poking fun at bad sex, one-night stands, and being blindly devoted to a useless boyfriend. 

Ward's language pulls no punches, her humour skips between light and dark with skill, and she's an accomplished performer of music and comedy. There's a strong message underneath the laughs, undiluted and articulately conveyed. It's great to have Ward adding another strong feminist voice to the Fringe.