Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Mouse
Monski Mouse
Higher Ground
Until Sat 15 March


Upon taking our seats it immediately becomes apparent that we've just walked into a television studio and we're now part of a variety show audience. The house band take their positions, the theme music fires up and our host, Monica Kordova, aka - Monski Mouse, appears gnawing on a giant piece of cheese as part of the show's opening credits, before welcoming us with a light and breezy take on Bob Dylan's All I Really Want To Do.

Just like any variety show of old, The Monski Mouse Show is based around her singing and dancing, with several regular segments thrown in between. Here, while Kordova's voice and song (all tweaked with subtle mouse references) choices certainly lifted and carried the format well, the random interviews with audience members (why not use that couch time to promote other Fringe performers?) and a spoken piece performed by her co-host, Camille (Lucy Fairley-Jones), simply went nowhere and quite frankly just served to create huge gaping holes in what otherwise is a tightly produced setting.

Whilst I can see the attraction in what Kordova tried to achieve, given the premise is that it's meant to be a regular TV show, it sorta dragged. All up, this is a fun and enjoyable show and one that most certainly would appeal to fans of the cabaret/variety genre and especially great for young kids, and of course community television viewers.

Steve Jones