We sent our reviewer James to watch Bebe Cave: Swoon

The fittingly fading ornate grandeur of Bebe Cave’s Swoon opens the cosy attic space of the Pleasance Jack Dome into a recreation of John Everett Millais’ 1852 painting, Ophelia. The loving parody of the set encapsulates the ambivalence of the tale to come, both acknowledging the beauty of the art the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood created and the general awfulness with which they behaved towards their apparently beloved muses who inspired it.

Ophelia awakes and we are treated to a darkly hilarious introduction from her, or rather the model she was painted after, Elizabeth Siddal, better known here as Lizzie. There is such promise in this opening and the audience is clearly eager to find out more.

Indeed, the story of Lizzie’s involvement with the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is a fascinating one, seemingly ripe for dark humour, and the show works best when it leans into this. Unfortunately, once rescued from her oil-bound watery grave, Lizzie is quickly sidelined in favour of the Brotherhood themselves as well as an invented character who now acts as the audience surrogate to highlight the often-significant failings of these ‘genius’ men. Here, the piece sadly falters a bit. It feels like it loses confidence in its intriguing premise and that it attempts to squeeze in as much information as possible to justify its setting, whilst also making a number of more generic modern references and employing broader humour to make sure it doesn’t lose its audience. In doing so, the piece loses a little of its heart.

As with much character comedy, there are some which are drawn well and have personality and depth, and you wish to spend time with, and others which feel only sketched in. In a rapid-paced, looser format, this is fine as, if you are not particularly enjoying one, another will be along in a moment and you can move on. In a more narrative-based piece such as this, it is a little trickier as these characters more often than not need to recur. Despite this, there are still enough laughs along the way.

There is a great show struggling valiantly to get out here, but frustratingly it is still somewhat undercooked and fails to live up to its initial promise. I would happily spend an hour with Lizzie finding out her story in her own inimitable way and I would love for the show to have the confidence to do this, because she is truly a brilliant, captivating creation.

The premise is great, the message is great, the setting is great, Lizzie is great, it just feels like the piece needs a little more depth and tightening in its execution to really nail the humour and biting satire that is so clearly there under the surface.

In the end, I am still very much team Lizzie and there is still a lot to enjoy, as a very enthusiastic full-house crowd proved, so it is definitely worth popping your head above water this Fringe and swanning down to see Bebe Cave: Swoon.

Rating: ***’ 3.5 stars

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