Sophie Joske is a phenomenally talented writer and performer; I’ve enjoyed watching her in many very different shows over the years since I’ve been attending FRINGE WORLD, and her name is one of the first I search for every time a new FRINGE WORLD program is released.

She brilliantly plays 30 characters in her one-woman show ‘Cassandra Barbitoll’, currently showing again at The Little Palais. ‘Sophie’s Slumber Party’ is different from her previous work that I’ve seen, partly because it’s entirely light-hearted fun (even her stand-up comedy usually has a bite to it), but mostly because Sophie, playing a 13-year-old throwing a slumber party in the 90s, largely acts as a cabaret MC for a variety of comedy and burlesque acts by other performers.

In the debut performance, these included Veruca Sour, Nicola Macri and Chloe the Cocaine, though performances on other nights may include other acts.

The slumber party format enables Sophie (after she’s crawled out of her sleeping bag in one of the show’s funniest scenes) to introduce dance sequences, discussion of hot boys, jokes about movies, and party games.

The 90s setting means that some of the cultural references eluded me, and some jokes will probably be funnier to anyone who actually was a teenager in the 90s, particularly if they were a teenage girl. That said, the burlesque and dance sequences were very entertaining, and the sense of fun is so pervasive that everyone in the audience, regardless of age or gender, seemed to be enjoying it immensely.

It introduced me to talented performers I’d never heard of before and inspired me to investigate the program to see what other shows they were in, and as the last show of the night (ending shortly before midnight), maybe the relaxed cheerful vibe was exactly what everyone needed before they went home to sleep.