Fanny Bleach Presents: The Nearly Naked Show
Live Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne
29th July 2026
It is with a certain embarrassment that, and for the second consecutive year, I will not be visiting The Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. However for the last couple of years the local theatres have done me proud and brought the Fringe to me in the form of preview shows. Live Theatre is doing that in a series of events this week culminating on 1st August.
Tonight was the turn of local drag artist, comedian, writer, and theatre maker Emma Crowley-Bennett aka Fanny Bleach with her zany, anarchic, and grotesque show – The Nearly Naked Show.
I will be using words like grotesque, hideous, vulgar throughout this review but not in a pejorative sense. Bleach’s characters are intended to be all of these things and the vary enormously in effect. Daniel, who is ostensibly the narrator of this freak show, for example, is outwardly the most normal of the lot. He is a nervous trainee and newly employed. He reminded me a lot of Kimberly’s friend, the beret wearing teenager created by the wonderful and sadly missed Victoria Wood. Daniel was the anchor that I as an audience member figuratively held onto as we delved into some of Bleach’s more subversive characters.
The naming of the freaks is really quite wonderful. Even before we meet Daniel we are introduced to the monstrous Bag Hag who may or may not be homeless. She is quite something to behold with her remarkable swivelling head and multi faces. She does just by her appearance set the tone and level for what follows.
Once Daniel has calmed the situation, he enthusiastically tries out his own audience participation routine which is adorable in its incompetence. He then introduces “the freaks” as he calls them – all the while being interrupted by a recurring telephone which he ignores until the end. The characters include a specifically proportioned lady who has fallen foul of the law and is being interviewed by the police, a sensual but filthy crustacean taking a bath, a psychotic life model, and if you are very lucky a snail who can fit his foot in his mouth – assuming the buses are running.
This is a show born out of a love of theatre, particularly burlesque, and the baser levels of even that art form. There is an intelligence to the characters and if you pay attention closely enough to the bathing shrimp, the recipe for a particularly delicious seafood sauce.
It appears to be chaotic and at times it certainly is but there has clearly been some thought been put into each character and while you may occasionally think ‘what on earth is going on here’ there is a story arc to the proceedings which ties the show up nicely on its sexy and happy, clappy conclusion.
Crowley-Bennett as Bleach is clearly enjoying herself throughout the performance but, my goodness, she puts in quite the shift. I wish her all the very best as the show moves to the Assembly Roxy – Downstairs at 9.50pm nightly during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival except for 18th and 25th August.