Kristen Schaal: The Legend Of Crystal Shell comedy review – Touching turns of whimsy
The Bob’s Burger star delivers plenty of laughs and an imaginative take on body positivity
‘Kristen Schaal is a horse!’ Two decades on from that absurdist refrain becoming clap-along mythology in the American’s performance repertoire, the gifted comic actor has made it manifest in this very silly body dysmorphia tale where the equine meets the ugly duckling. Her alter ego Crystal Shell is a naïve freak, the (centaur-like but not quite) product of an ill-starred union between a drunken woman and a horse. Hidden from the world and abused by her late mother, abandoned by her stallion father, her’s is a sad, lonely existence with Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake the only consolation. And she’s determined to dance for the people that she’s suddenly found before her.
A twisted but delightful coming-of-age tale, featuring a Hollywood hoofer of renown and Schaal’s Bob’s Burgers co-star John Roberts in supporting roles, The Legend Of Crystal Shell is a projection of Schaal’s wonderful capacity to turn from cutesy and childlike to stroppily aggressive on a dime. In its valorising of unicorns and rainbows you could read it as a broad allegory for tolerance and self-acceptance. Or a satire on Disneyfied takes on sexual maturity and family relationships. But the laughs are paramount. And she and Roberts sing and canter with sprinkles of charm as they deliver plentiful, steaming pats of them.
Kristen Schaal: The Legend Of Crystal Shell, Pleasance Courtyard, until Sunday 16 August, 7pm.