REVIEW: Burlesque, female empowerment - and bears? This one-woman show is worth travelling for

Stephanie Laing: Rudder is an hour-long, one woman show with a mixture of stand-up and dance to talk about more serious subject with good humour, which is being taken to Underbelly at Edinburgh Fringe in July and August.

A special preview was shown at the Priory Hotel in Louth on Sunday night, and the laughter from the audience could probably be heard all the way down Eastgate as Steph had the audience in stitches right from the beginning – especially fiance Paul Hugill as he took the jokes aimed at him with good humour.Audience participation comes in the form of helping Steph to choreograph a new dance, with a dance move represented by each number on the dice, and six rolls of the dice saw a brilliantly funny dance created – and another by bringing our flash cards of emotion bears used to help people with autism express their emotions, which was very cleverly done.

She even tackles subjects such as relationships, drinking, body image, consent, and healing with good humour and regaled the audience with how she’s taken back control of her life and her body, with a perfect mix of funny one-liners and self-deprecating humour that will prove to be relatable with audiences.

She quipped “preview is a nice way of saying it might be a bit [rubbish]” at the beginning of the show – but she needn’t have worried as Rudder is geuinely very funny and will go down a storm with audiences in Edinburgh.

Rudder will be performed in George Square during Edinburgh Fringe on July 31, August 1 to 11, and then August 13 to 26. Tickets are available at https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/stephanie-laing-rudder