The pink-haired Anglo-French comic Tatty Macleod has amassed a sizable TikTok following for her online skits that revolve around the formidable froideur of her ‘French’ persona. But – as is the question for many internet stars who are tackling the Fringe this year – can she hack it live?
Her hour-long debut ‘Fugue’ is an autobiographical show in which Macleod considers the pitfalls of cultural appropriation, exploring her experience of being too English to fit into France and too French to fit into England. (Despite growing up in rural Brittany, she explains she’s ‘not technically French’.) And while the red wine-drinking, cigarette-smoking character that Macleod owes her online success makes a handful of appearances, the show is much more complex – emotionally and thematically – than that (thank God).
What follows is a slick, whistle-stop tour of just about every French and English cliché out there, delivered with a zesty elegance via audience digs, witty personal anecdotes and funky, observational sketches. She talks about being a tour guide in Paris, about dating French men versus English men, agonises over memories of ‘reverse culture shock’ and examines how hen dos differ on either side of the channel.
Despite being faced with a largely British room with a presumably finite knowledge of French culture, it’s the more leftfield gags which click best – some of her sketches lean a little too heavily on stereotypes to the point where they feel predictable. That said, it’s the autobiographical parts to the show in which Macleod properly shines. Under all of the skits and stunts is a mature, identity-searching narrative that should resonate with anyone who’s ever questioned the legitimacy of calling a place home.