Last night’s semi-final at The Lowry, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester was distinguished by the high quality of its brilliant, mainly very new talent. And, as if to prove a point, the outright winner, Amy Gledhill took the lead on only her fourth ever gig!
We first saw Amy at the King’s Arms Salford only a few weeks ago – this heat was amazingly her first ever gig! This time, she’d ditched the coat (worn as reinforcement against a potentially hostile audience!) and commanded the stage like a professional. Asked if she’s done many gigs in the run up to her semi Amy admitted to only two – one of which was a benefit for a recently deceased friend, which has to be the hardest gig of all.
So we look forward to seeing Amy again on Monday 24th September when she joins Sofie Hagen and General Advice Bureau in the final.
Close runner up Katie Tracey deserves special credit as when she turned up for the same heat as Amy, our host didn’t show and we pushed her on stage to take the reigns as host! This gave her a natural platform for her skills and earned her a place in last night’s semi-final. Katie is a natural raconteur who knows how to handle an audience and her heat has already netted her some regular gigs hosting for other local promoters.
Like Amy, Funny Women gave Katie her first taste of the limelight when she performed stand up for the first time in the Awards three years ago. We definitely plan to work with Katie again and look forward to her hosting for us when we return to greater Manchester on Friday 6th October for Funny Women at the King’s Arms.
To complete the trio of ‘firsts’ third runner up Daisy D’Agostini took the stage three years ago in the Funny Women Awards after taking part in a Funny Women workshop in Hull! With some performance experience under her belt, and a couple of hours of confidence building, the Funny Women team persuaded Daisy to take to the stage in the heat that same evening! She received a ‘one to watch’ accolade and then went on to win best newcomer in the 2011 Musical Comedy Awards. Now Daisy is earning her stripes in the Funny Women hall of fame!
The show was hosted by Debra-Jane Appelby who won the Awards in 2005. Debra made light of the fact that she beat Sarah Millican by a Nano point and said she looked forward to seeing last night’s winner come second in the final!
‘The standard was very high last night,’ comments Lynne Parker, executive producer of the Awards. ‘There were some real moments of joy and to see such new acts perform to the seasoned Lowry audience, and get great feedback, is what we’re all about.
‘We had to choose one winner but every act raised the bar for female comedy. We can’t wait to see more of them all again at our forthcoming Edinburgh Fringe run and our regular nights in London and Brighton.’
See HERE for detail about our next semi-final shows in Brighton and Edinburgh.
Pictured: Amy Gledhill centre with Daisy D'Agostini (left) and Katie Tracey (right).
