Olivia Raine Atwood: Faking It

This was my favourite show of the Fringe. It was highly energetic and hilarious right from the beginning throughout the show but my favourite part was how Olivia interacts with the audience.
She is very good at maintaining eye contact with everyone in the room and delivering the jokes directly to you in a way that is guaranteed to make you laugh no matter how funny the joke itself was. It is a brilliant show for introverts because it feels highly interactive yet you don’t have to say or do anything other than just sit back and watch.

I was drawn in immediately to Olivia’s promise/premise of a medically-themed piece on an actor’s shenanigans in New York City from her poster and flyer alone, only to find out in conversation as I bumped into her flyering that I had worked in the same hospital at around the same time right as our world plunged into lockdowns. Olivia admittedly never acted her way into my particular department, granted I worked in the morgue. That would have been a challenge even for someone of her evident and immense talent.

Olivia’s story is surprising and unique on its own, but her comedic delivery and full-body explosions of emotions bring this triumphant performance—which having been nearby to personally understand just how accurate her account is makes it even funnier—over the top. “Faking It” is a must-see experience!

Hilarious! Olivia At-with-only-one-T-that's-important-wood tells a funny, captivating story about getting picked in late 2019 to test hospital readiness for a new virus no one had heard of (yet). Along the way, she shares anecdotes from her school years that had me howling. She's a great storyteller, and her use of physicality was brilliant (and hysterical). Highly recommend!

A MUST-SEE! Truly original, hilarious, mind-bending and oddly comforting. This show was a total surprise. We walked in off the street on our first night in Edinburgh, not knowing what to expect. Olivia Raine Atwood is a treasure and one of the most unique performers I've ever seen. She is also a great physical comedienne. Go see this show! LOVED IT!! ***** 5 STARS

Olivia’s show is captivating and told in an athletic agile way (in all senses of the words). She easily takes her audience on a journey they will not forget, while mixing stand-up with physical storytelling. A must see!

Wow! This is a fascinating story, performed by a multi-talented artist, in a flawless example of what can be achieved in a one woman show.

Olivia Atwood is charming, credible, and so darn captivating to watch! Her delivery encompasses a seamless blend of storytelling, character, comedy, and movement. The occasional visual aids were both hilarious and helpful. Even the subtle well-placed lighting effects - in every detail, this is such a well-polished show.

Excellent comedic timing throughout. The call backs got richer and richer, and the payoffs got bigger and bigger. The audience was clearly along for the ride.

And did I mention - it's a fascinating story!? I really want to go into specifics, but it's top-secret. It's a story worth hearing, and this is the best way to hear it. I'm so glad I got to see this show. Highly recommended!

Brilliant and hilarious. An hour of complete verbal and physical entertainment. Olivia interacts seamlessly with the audience. Clever and funny writing and great performance. A must see.

We watched last night. Fantastic funny story telling. Novel and engaging. Audience loved it.

Superb.

In theory, this is stand up/narrative, so you’d imagine it could be delivered by someone standing still, however Atwood’s level of athleticism adds a whole other dimension and makes it more like a piece of physical storytelling. She’s everywhere all at once. There are no props to speak of, so it’s all on her to give you the physical sense of events and places, which she achieves admirably.

The call backs are set up nicely and sprinkled throughout, so it feels like a series of running jokes (also, she’s literally running quite a lot of the time!).

Where many Edinburgh shows have a plot very personal to the performer and then struggle to broaden the meaning to deliver an emotional end-punch to the audience, Olivia was genuinely a witness to history (in a really deranged way), so she doesn’t need to twist the finale to make it relevant to the audience.

She’s definitely one to watch. She has some great material here, but I suspect she could turn almost anything into vibrant, energetic, well delivered comedy.

Rumour has it Mr. Nibbles is getting his own show.

I can't.... this was just so good- it's hard to put it into words. Atwood is an athlete on that stage but you would never know it, because every perfectly poised move within this show was done so unbeliebably effortlessly. With all the precision and charm she gives with her energy, it's almost selfless how much she gives to the you as the audience every night. The pacing: oh my god the pacing was incredible! Usually in shows you get luls in energy- it's normal, they happen. NOT THIS SHOW. Atwood switches from her different stories so slickly and with such precision that you forget how long you've been sitting down watching just one person talk for so long! This needs to be studied if you are to grab an audiences attention and never let it go. The script is so well written and performed it deserves so much recognition. This is the most 'good vibes' play I've seen at the Fringe so far- if you want to connect and be charmed and laugh your ass off in a way that makes you feel wonderful, this really is my first and only reccomendation

I absolutely loved this show. It’s very funny— well written with great physical humor. I laughed the whole way through!! Plus, it’s an amazing story... you want to know how it ends. The actress connects with the audience and, in the end, it’s a wonderful tribute to healthcare heroes and a great time!! SEE THIS SHOW!

I've seen 50 shows so far this year. This one is the best I've seen to date.

Saw a big poster for this and so looked it up. So glad I did. This show was excellent and had me smiling throughout. Olivia was a superb storyteller and the story is true.
Top stars for this. Definitely go.

Faking It is such a great show!! Olivia has endless charm, energy and craftsmanship. I kept looking at all of the laughing audience members around me. She hits on such an important time to all of us, the start of Covid, and explains a part of it we never knew— hospitals trying to get themselves ready. That’s the bittersweet part and we hold it in our minds but Olivia’s giving us her own self as a comic foil. The show ends up being about survival against all odds, in a hilarious package. Go see it.

Absolutely brilliant totally entertaining and hilarious from the first opening minute

An absolute must


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