Edinburgh Fringe review: Ashley Storrie shares her story in a hilarious hour of stand-up therapy

Ashley Storrie is so desperate to get her show going that she’s already on stage as the long audience queue filters in.

It’s another packed show for the Glaswegian – and from the moment you arrive it’s clear to see why it’s proving so popular.

She welcomes everyone in to the grand setting of The Counting House’s fancy ballroom – it’s got chandeliers and everything – giving a countdown to the show and directions to the toilets and bar.

Helpful advice as well as picking out targets to poke some gentle fun at – it’s a unique touch.

The warm welcome is in-keeping with the show that follows as Ashley delivers a hilarious, important and altogether very enjoyable hour.

Backed by a mainly Scottish crowd – which can sometimes be a rarity at the Fringe – the audience gets to know a whole lot about her, as if we’re all a group of pals listening to her tell stories.

Ashley considers stand-up a sort of therapy, covering topics from autism and anxiety to a brief cancer scare in Wagamamas, as well as her dad’s interesting sourcing of a dog blood transfusion.

She explains why she called her free Fringe show Hysterical, and why it’s only ever women that the word is levelled at.

And a whole new appreciation of why she’s on that stage comes from a moment where she reveals the true origin story of a joke and why she tells it.

Ashley’s been coming to the Fringe since she was a kid, flyering for her mum Janey Godley, and on the basis of this show she’ll be a fixture for many years to come – possibly in even fancier rooms.