Weather Girl @ Summerhall

Weather Girl, the latest child to emerge from Francesca Moody, producer of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, is at times – like its siblings – an uncomfortable watch punctuated with dark humour. It’s slick and engaging, a (literal) car crash you can’t stop watching. The hot ticket of this Fringe (it's nearly sold out already), Weather Girl tackles the looming issue of climate change through the medium of Californian Weather Girl, Stacey: her spandex, her unfaltering smile and Stanley cup. 

Julia McDermott nails the role. Her Valley Girl falsetto plasters upbeat Californian optimism onto the disintegration of Stacey’s sense of self as she faces the reality of raging wildfires and American apathy. Raised by foster parents, the backstory to Stacey’s oversexed numbness and alcoholism seeps through the cracks of her composure as she scans homeless encampments for glimpses of the mother "who chose everything but me." When Stacey finds her mother pan-handling for cocktails and wet chicken, she also finds her with a supernatural gift for drawing water from thin air and a warning about losing oneself to technology. 

Stacey’s increasingly manic threats to kill her boss and co-worker are lost as she repeats herself with Patrick Bateman-esque glibness; writer Brian Watkin (known for Outer Range) points the finger at consumerist America and its inability to listen to loud truths. "People want good news," says Stacey’s boss. As a wildfire engulfs the area, he tells her that people don’t want to be told to evacuate. They want to hear about good weather. 

Weather Girl laces moments of sobriety quickly glossed over with humour. Watkin’s quick-paced dialogue moves the audience lightly between Stacey’s alcoholism, her date with a man whose name she can’t remember and mankind’s urge to destroy beautiful things. Tucked away in the Cairns Lecture Theatre in Summerhall, Weather Girl deserves a larger stage. 

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Weather Girl, Summerhall (Cairns Lecture Theatre), until 26 Aug, 6pm, £10-16