First trip to the Pleasance and what a start! With sharp, punchy puns, skilful character hopping and memorable choreography that compliments the narrative, ZUMBA GOLD is a terrific watch that had me laughing out loud.  

We meet Cathy Campbell, a middle-aged Zumba teacher who runs her classes from the Deanside village local leisure centre. Through the gritted teeth of her unwavering grin, she mimics stabbing herself over and over as she tells us that teaching Zumba has been the centre of her world for the last ten years. That’s right, ten years she repeats impatiently. Her frustration at the monotony of her routine and her lack of fulfilment (she has always fancied herself as a starlet on the showbiz scene), is presented slickly in the form of her passive aggressive remarks towards her class attendees and her savage desperation to grab any opportunity for the limelight with both hands.  

Amelia Gann owns the space with an infectious energy that captures Cathy’s desperation for change and attention through humour, rumination and movement. She frequently withdraws away from Cathy the character and into a narrator-like stance, where she provides us with a fresh perspective of the goings-on of Cathy both in present and past. Her impersonations of Cathy’s nearest and dearest in the form of her partner, Patty who unlike Cathy is irritatingly content with the rigidity of their everyday, is a spot on depiction of a trusty but unchallenging partner who takes solace in a camomile tea aka “a cup of calm” as she likes to call it. A standout moment – her physical representations of several regulars at the Zumba class who all, to Cathy’s despair, continually get the simplest of steps wrong.  

Get ready to giggle and get your tickets for ZUMBA GOLD on at the Pleasance, 60 Pleasance, EH8 9TJ, Venue 33. 

Saturday 7^th – Sunday 8^th August then Tuesday 10^th – Sunday 15^th August. 6:45pm / 2:15pm.

£13/ £10 concessions.

Tickets available here.