Following the sell-out success of Vanity Bites Back at the Tobacco Factory in October, Helen Duff was back in Bristol last night with Smasher. This new show has some similarities with its predecessor, as once again she tackles a taboo subject with a mix of clowning, story-telling and a great deal of audience participation . . . Duff is at her best once she allows her story-telling skills to come to the fore, using her many other skills to underpin a strong narrative line. She has a five-star personality and is a talented and original comic; I will certainly look out for her next time she’s in town.

The inaugural production for the new Wardrobe Theatre adds to the reasons to be cheerful as it weighs in with a production, which in terms of its ‘alternative’ label is not merely off the beaten track, but hanging from the ceiling, whilst providing a grin-and-laugh factor that little I have seen this year can match . . . GSTSB sets the bar encouragingly high for Bristol’s new studio theatre

I Am Hamlet is a play by Richard James, available by online publisher and rights agent Lazy Bee and apparently award-winning. With its am-dram setting and pseudo intellectualism, it’s been a hit amongst amateur theatre companies for the past couple of years, elsewhere it had a mixed reception. Importantly, this week at The Wardrobe it’s the turn of Bristol-based company, Page2Stage.

“. . . Nalika is a naturally funny person with a wonderful energy and (unusually for a comedian) an extremely positive outlook on life. Her charm comes through briefly onstage and the moments which were funniest were those moments which felt more personable, natural and less rehearsed. The show is a balancing act between stand-up comedy and theatrical performance . . .”

Bubbling along on ‘the circuit’ for some time now has been a new kind of act; not quite standup, not quite monologue (or dialogue) and in which personality – an essential ingredient of standup – blends with acting and narrative skill. A theatre of mock illusion, dumb-show and flights of fancy (and fantasy). The coming master of the genre is Bristol’s own Jody Kamali who is currently working-up his forthcoming Edinburgh act.