Natasia Demetriou: You'll Never Have All of Me

★★★★
comedy review (edinburgh) | Read in About 2 minutes
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Published 13 Aug 2014
33332 large
100487 original

As Robbie Williams, the other two from Destiny’s Child and pretty much every Spice Girl would tell you, going solo really tests the ego. Natasia Demetriou previously came to Edinburgh safely ensconced within the comforting womb of Oyster Eyes, the acclaimed sketch troupe, so to recreate that warm embrace tonight she enlists the help of, well, everyone else in the room.

“I need you to be my sketch group!” announces the effervescently needy Demetriou at the top of the show, at which point the punters who’d just been urged to move into the front rows give an almost audible gulp.

Thankfully—apart from a couple who are welcomed in a little too affectionately—she pretty much just picks on a poor chap called Mack, whose previously unheralded improv, seduction and martial arts skills are pushed to the limit. Demetriou’s show is, officially, “just some character comedy,” but, honestly, it’s so much more.

One sometimes off-putting issue with character stuff is the lack of insight into the performer. Here, it’s very much the opposite, as we become pleasingly acquainted with the family Demetriou via numerous increasingly eccentric videos, including a cameo from Natasia’s annoyingly successful comedy brother, Jamie.

Another well-known comic pops up at regular intervals to provide musical accompaniment for this head-spinning array of garish oddballs and sexy/disturbing dance moves, and by the cathartic finale we’re partying in the seats as much as British reserve allows, very much part of Team Demetriou. Let's just hope she doesn't bill us for a share of the losses.