Grace Mulvey: Tall Baby ★★★

The Tall Baby of Grace Mulvey’s show refers to her belief that we’re all just grown-up infants having a go at life. And, certainly, the central conceit of the narrative here, moving to London in her early 30s, provides plenty of scope to explore the business of being a proper adult.

Spurred on to make the move by her mother (“She called me up on my 33rd birthday and said, ‘Jesus died at 33, so you’d better get moving and make something of yourself!’”), Mulvey recounts her tales of being a singleton in the capital city, her sex life and, well, being diagnosed with foot trauma. To the show’s benefit, she is never shy of making herself the butt of the joke, including when she had to read her own missing person’s report.

The whole moves on amiably enough. It’s all a bit like having some good craic with a favoured mate in the pub. Mulvey is an extremely likable character and just enough punchlines hit the mark that you’ll enjoy passing the hour with her. Proper belly laughs are in short supply, however, and this is one show that probably could have done with more audience interaction to lift it somewhat. But as Fringe debuts go, this is an assured one and worth catching if the fancy takes you.