Grace Jarvis - Falling Backwards Through a Hedge

Charming and eloquent as always, Grace is a master of taking her time to lure you into a sense of complacency before whacking you over the head with a punchline so strong, you’ll be scrambling to recall it out of context to your loved ones the second you get home (to far less effect…)

That said, her suggestions that “self harm is the most thrifty coping mechanism” and that “Henry the Hoover was personified as a man to prevent men from using him for pleasure” need no explanation, and shall live in my head forever.

The core of the show was incredibly relatable to me as a person who is also trapped inside benign rules they set for themselves in childhood, but her stories woven throughout of growth beyond them that are woven throughout felt genuinely inspiring.

Seeing Grace perform has come to feel like checking in with an old friend, with 2026 marking the third year in a row that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her latest show, and I truly hope we can borrow her back from Edinburgh again in 2027.