The boundaries between comedy and serious theatre are often blurred at the Edinburgh Fringe and rarely more than in this deeply thoughtful piece of work by Kim Kalish. The American performer has previously done sketch comedy but here mixes humour wih something profound and touching a moving monologue that deals with the subject of grief.

When her lover Patrick died in his twenties it was difficult for Kalish to process. It wasn't just a case of tears and sadness, it also meant Katy Perry songs. Kalish probes and questions if there is an OK way to respond to the worst thing happening. 

She describes herself in the intro as an archetypal "loud, shouty New Yorker" but onstage the tone varies. Sometimes reduced to a whisper, sometimes on the cusp of a silent scream. How do you maintain some kind of normality in the midst of intense sadness?

There are moments of levity here, scenes recreated that could come out of a Richard Curtis meet-cute romcom, but at the same time Kalish points out that not all love stories have to have a traditional happy ending. It's nearer to Truly, Madly, Deeply than Notting Hill. 

Kalish paints wonderfully descriptive verbal pictures of her friends and, in particular, her family, telling her to eat something as if that would make everything good again. Sometimes "you'll be OK" feels like bullshit rather than reassurance, even when someone means well by saying it. Maybe this work is the way she can get closure.

This is a show that certainly connects with people who have gone through something similar. At the end it was clear that it really touched some members of the audience who identified with the story she was telling. But it is told in a way that even people who have not gone through this kind of loss will find something here to appreciate.

Kim Kalish, the Funny Thing About Death, Greenside @ Infirmary Street until August 27. Buy tickets here.

three stars