Sophie Willan: Branded at Contact
Andrew Anderson
Comedian Sophie Willan hasn’t had an easy life. Brought up in foster care, her teen years saw her careen from one home to another, never able to settle down, almost always finding herself in strange surroundings.
All that might sound like a recipe for misery, but Willan’s talent lies in her ability to turn tragedy on its tail, making mirth from her most maudlin moments. For example, her last show On Record created a comic script from her childhood caseworker notes – no mean feat.
Now Willan is back with a new show Branded at Contact Theatre, where she takes the labels she has been given throughout her life – rude, useless, no good – and feeds them through her pity-free laughter machine. The result is a funny show with plenty of laughs, but also a good few poignant moments.
