At the beginning of her debut show Cartwheel, Amanda Knox addresses one of many elephants in the room: we’re all attending what might be the most controversial shows of the Fringe.
The writer and activist’s comedy debut has been subject to intense media scrutiny (not Knox’s first time on that particular rodeo, it must be said) and a petition calling for its cancellation. But once the performance gets into full-swing, it’s so inoffensive that it’s hard to know what all the fuss is about.
Familiar (read: palatable) topics of motherhood and the misunderstandings around female identity are convincingly explored across the hour, and Knox – a former theatre kid – is a natural on stage and, surprisingly, can also sing.
But, understandably, the show spends most of its duration explaining Knox’s perspective on the shit show of her twenties – the ultimate year abroad experience gone wrong, which led to her false incarceration and subsequent hounding by the tabloids. And yet, Knox is curiously restrained: perhaps conscious that an overflow of anger might alienate an audience which she can’t necessarily trust.
And she would be right. When Knox takes her bow, there are scoffs but also standing ovations. It seems like whatever she does, she’s condemned to an eternity of being divisive.
Amanda Knox: Cartwheel, Gilded Balloon, until 17 Aug, 8.15pm