When Rosa Bowden’s Frigid begins with the dulcet tones of Flo Rida’s 2007 smash hit “Low” playing from a DJ booth, I realise I’m in for a good time.
Frigid’s protagonist is Niamh O’Reilly, an average fourteen-year-old living in the northern suburbs of Dublin, and we meet her on the night of the school disco. Niamh is an endearing and sweet young girl; she loves Jane Austen and hates priests. But she’s never been kissed before, and this makes her “frigid.” It’s a label both O’Reilly and her three best friends want her to get rid of, and they approach the disco with this goal in mind.
Frigid is a funny, nostalgic ode to teenage girlhood and all its awkwardness. Bowden keeps the audience enraptured and laughing throughout the show’s fifty-minute stretch. She deftly blends storytelling with comedy with a tight script and wonderful pacing. When the show came to a close, I didn’t want to leave, because the characters and their stories were just that good.
There’s plenty to laugh at in Frigid, from the excellent soundtrack of mid-2000s pop to the cringeworthy mating rituals of teenagers in a sweaty basement. Yet Bowden also treats her teenage subjects with the grace and love that they deserve… fake tan, backcombed-hair, and body odour aside. In doing so, she recalls all the cringe-worthy things we did to be accepted by our peers. Frigid reminded me how awful it was to be fourteen, but also special in its own way, and worth celebrating as well as laughing at.
Bowden shows incredible talent as a writer, actress, and comedian here. Her work in Frigid is supported by the equally-hilarious DJ Ciarán Gallagher, who cultivates a perfect atmosphere of humour and nostalgia without ever distracting from Bowden’s performance at centre stage. Frigid is easily the funniest show I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe and should be seen by anyone who loves comedy, Irish accents, and/or Rihanna’s third album. You’re in for a treat.
Frigid runs through August 27 at 12:40 in Underbelly Cowgate. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Image provided to The Student by Frigid