Brainwashed – The shovel is not comrade Lenin: Alina Konon’s Hilarious Account of Growing up Under Dictatorship (Fringe review) 5 Stars *****

With nothing but a shovel sharing the stage with her, Alina Konon created one of the darkest, funniest and most interesting shows at the Fringe. Her comedy ranges from the subtle – brainwashing her audience into thinking her shovel is actually Comrade Lenin – to the clownishly comical, balancing a cabbage on her ‘Brezhnev.’ She draws on episodes from her childhood and from arguably one of the darkest pages of human history, presenting them as a narration made up of quick, witty sketches.

Her show revolves around her childhood under the Soviet Union. She starts by stating that neither the Soviet Union nor the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic exist anymore. On paper, the country where she was born has disappeared, but the tragedies that marked it, however, are still very clear in the common imagination: Gulags, political imprisonment, Chornobyl, and a government that lies and hides from its people.

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Konon has no trouble making this funny, while never diminishing the impact of the personal trauma living under such conditions has caused. The power of her comedy lies not only in her masterful writing, quick-witted delivery, and knack for audience interaction.

Konon is original, unapologetic, and full of an irony that feels incredibly relevant nowadays. The bareness of the stage felt perfectly apt considering the tone of her show; it adds to its straightforwardness and nods to the state of deprivation Konon talks about. It’s a harsh, truthful and deliriously hilarious show, a gem of this year’s Fringe in terms of female comedy.

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There are moments where the curtain falls, and Konon lets her vulnerability seep through; despite her ability to ironise over her childhood, she remembers moments of her teenage years where she perhaps did not want to be here. This makes her show half a funny account, half a cathartic moment where she manages to process trauma in a way that makes her feel less exposed.

Brainwashed, The Annexe at Paradise in The Vault, till 30th August