ANNIE WOBBLER (REVISITED), PLEASANCE ACE DOME, EDINBURGH FRINGE
★★★★
“Performances such as this are few and far between at the Fringe….”
There’s a mesmerising agelessness about Nichola McAuliffe as she slips from character to character in Annie Wobbler (Revisited), a series of five monologues with one uniting theme – imposter syndrome.
The piece, written for McAuliffe by British playwright Arnold Wesker some 45 years ago, finds the star of Nineties’ medical sitcom, Surgical Spirits, embodying three different ‘Annies’ over five monologues.
The first is Anna, a working class Gen Z graduate battling anxiety as she prepares to celebrate her hard-earned degree, with First Class Honours, with her boyfriend; Annabella, a best-selling novelist coping with unexpected success through a love of whiskey; and the titular Annie Wobbler, an aged Cockney ‘bag-lady’ recalling her life in service late one night in a railway station.
McAuliffe is a delight in each role, making it almost impossible to pull your eyes away from the stage as she breathes truth into each creation in this new version of the original play cycle, specially updated for the 21st century.
As Anna, the years drop away as 70-year-old McAuliffe recaptures the vibrant zest of youth. Enthusiastic but yet to be emancipated she giggles and even takes the odd selfie as she reflects on her place in society as educated working class – and she worries; will she be accepted as a scholar? Or is she, as her mother says, ‘just brains and black underwear’? It’s a warm, thought-provoking turn that McAuliffe laces with underlying confusion and frustration.
And then, with a wipe of her face, McAuliffe pulls off her wig, ruffles her hair and transforms into Annabella, in the first of a trilogy of monologues following the author from her first best-seller through a series of interviews that chart her career.
In each monologue, Annabella evolves and morphs from whimsical Irish spinster with a soft Dublin lilt and love of Jameson’s Whiskey, to a strident Scottish self-assured writer in the second, and a profoundly confident, refined English cougar in the third.
This ‘Holy Trinity’ of Annabellas gives a fascinating insight into the paths life can follow while allowing McAuliffe’s to share her gift for accents. It is, however, the final, titular monologue that proves the most powerful.
Once again the timelessness of McAuliffe as a performer sees her to age well beyond her years to become the homeless Annie Wobbler, in what is a masterly performance. Both fierce, fragile and heartbreakingly observed, it’s a spellbinding accomplishment. The silence that falls over the room as Annie meanders down memory lane is palpable.
In each of these vignettes McAuliffe demonstrates the true power of her craft, making the room care about each of these briefly met strangers. Performances such as this are few and far between at the Fringe these days.
Definitely an Edinburgh Fringe 2026 Must See.
Full details and tickets HERE
