Review: EDINBURGH 2024: ALISON LARK: GRIEF . . . A COMEDY, Assembly George Square Studios

“Everything changes when you fall in love, doesn’t it?”

When Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells you to tell the world your story, you aren’t going to say no, are you? Alison Larkin: Grief . . . A Comedy is Larkin’s response to the archbishop’s suggestion, with her telling audiences about falling in love in her 50s and dealing with the grief of loss in her own way. But, before we can get into that, we have to learn more about Larkin herself.

Larkin begins with telling the audience about how there are different ways of dealing with grief and, for her, it is storytelling and comedy. She has had quite the life and she tells the audience this through monologues and song, with musical accompaniment by Gary Schreiner.

We learn more about her upbringing and journey to find her birth mother after being raised in England. She actually wrote a book, The English American, about what it was like to discover that her birth mother was American and pretty much the opposite of what her adopted mother had been like.

For years, Larkin lived with her husband and children in New Jersey, but things changed when her husband ended up losing all their money. She leaves the state and her now ex-husband behind, trying to start a new life on her own. But soon, Larkin meets Bhima, an Indian man who has also lived in the United States for thirty years and shares her love for crossword puzzles, as proven by them meeting over the last copy of The New York Times at the Red Lion Inn. The two almost instantly fall in love and then move into together, eventually getting engaged. 

But, as one might expect from the title, things take a turn, with Bhima passing away at the age of 54, only a week after he and Larkin were engaged to be married. Larkin had finally found true love in her 50s but it was quickly taken away from her. However, she accepts that “grief is just part of the deal” and knows that Bhima will always be with her in spirit, even though he is not physically with her.

There are a few songs throughout the show, including one sweet one about falling in love and the joys that come with it. The songs are decent but Larkin does not have the strongest singing voice, leading to some awkward and pitchy moments that are supposed to be sweet and heartfelt. Schreiner does an excellent job accompanying Larkin throughout, setting a musical background to the love story. 

Ultimately, Alison Larkin: Grief . . . A Comedy is a beautiful story on how one can both love and grieve, but it could have done with some more comedy as implied in the title. Larkin does a fantastic job of portraying her own love story, switching to different characters with ease with her excellent voice acting, allowing audiences to connect with her joys and heartbreak. 

Alison Larkin: Grief . . . A Comedy ran until 25 August at Assembly George Square Studios, Studio Two.

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