Ozzy Algar @ Pleasance Courtyard

It’s rare that a performance can so immediately transport you into another world; Ozzy Algar’s magical one-person show, Speed Queen, is one of these rarities. Set in the last launderette on the Isle of Wight, Algar takes us into a world of mysticism, gossip, and dirty socks.

Pet, the launderette’s owner, is a remarkably endearing character from the outset. Hobbling around the stage in her oversized coat, handing out biscuits and pieces of island gossip, Algar steps into the elderly role like a well-worn pair of slippers. It’s the uncanny twinkle in her eye that lets you know there’s something more beneath the surface – a bit like if Baba Yaga was also your beloved nan.

Perhaps the most charming element of Algar’s performance is that she knows she’s funny. At times, she can’t help but fire a wry grin towards the audience, always followed by a well-practiced old woman’s laugh. She takes up the quiet authority of elderly matriarchs with impressive ease; the effect is spell-like. She can convince her patrons to do anything, from dutifully holding a washing line whilst she hands other audience members’ socks, to performing a sing-along of wartime classic We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn.

All the while, shadows of rural mythmaking and the supernatural lurk in the corners of the show. These pursue Pet even into the spotlight, as Algar makes the old woman disappear with the shedding of her coat to reveal underneath a pearl-studded showgirl performing to an enraptured crowd of washing machines. The show’s true gem is its stunning original music composed by Tom Penn, with lyrics by Algar. It’s uncanny to watch the rich and sonorous voice of a 1940’s starlet come out of what was moments ago a little old lady. Whilst Pet may have been known on stage as ‘The Siren’, we have to determine from this spellbinding performance that Ozzy Algar is no actress, but a veritable shapeshifter.

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Ozzy Algar: Speed Queen, Pleasance Courtyard (Cellar), until 24 Aug, 10.30pm, £11-13