Clare Plested is the other half of the critically acclaimed Plested and Brown who have had much success in Edinburgh in the past and this year she presents her debut stand-up show at the Fringe and it's a sheer delight.
It's based on her recent experience in marrying Adrian Hassell in Las Vegas. For 45 minutes she retells their adventures in the 'sin city' with an honesty and endearing charm. It is a fresh, witty and immensely funny performance filled with scintillating personal anecdotes.
Clare's has a splendid rapport with her audience. She explained that her full name was Clare Louise Anthony Plested whose initials spell out Clap and the audience did just that to which she said, "But as a pupil at a Catholic school I had no idea what the clap was and now you have all given it to me!" Wonderful stuff.
Every day at school she saw a statue of Jesus staring down at her and now she's married to a long curly haired carpenter. We learn about her parents, her flight to Vegas, the organising of 61 guests and nine bridesmaids. In fact, "The only way we could keep the cost down was to buy their dresses from Primark."
All the stories are allegedly true. Her hen night was a visit to see the Chippendales all dressed as nuns whilst Jesus and the disciples got so drunk that one of them followed two girls into a car park where he was tasered, mugged and left for dead but finally put to bed by some friendly bouncers. Another ended up in hospital with no recollection of how he got there.
To please her mum Clare paid $200 to be married by a priest who wasn't even Catholic. We learn about the hotels that pump the air with oxygen, have no clocks and ply the guests in the casino with free drinks, the nightmare seating plans and the awful speeches.
They say, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" but I'm really glad that Clare breaks that rule and shared it all with us.
This was a sassy and vivacious performance. Don't miss it.