Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Pleasuance Courtyard, Beside
Playing August 9-12, 14-25
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If there were an award for most intriguing show title at the Edinburgh Fringe, Jake Roche would surely make it to the podium with Neporrhoids.
In case it wasn’t obvious, the title is a portmanteau of ‘nepotism’ and ‘haemorrhoids’, both of which are tackled unabashedly head-on from the start.
Firstly, the nepotism. As the son of Loose Women’s Coleen Nolan and ‘Sexiest Soap Male 2003’ recipient Shane Richie, Jake Roche grew up with fame in his blood, and he wanted more.
Roche takes us through his tumultuous celebrity journey, from forming the band Rixton in his teens, to the highs of achieving a UK number one single, all the way to the lows of being shunned by the music industry and applying for Universal Credit.
As for the haemorrhoids, we’re introduced to them at the start of the show as Roche pulls down his trousers and sings a surprisingly catchy song about the painful lumps.
These two factors encapsulate the essence of Neporrhoids: a show that is at once incredibly funny and heartachingly personal.
Welcoming everyone in and chatting away before the show officially starts, Roche wins the audience over as soon as they enter the space with his friendly charm. Neporrhoids is loosely structured and incredibly creative, using music, props, dodgy shadows and an ‘exposition device’ voiceover to tell Roche’s story.
The music is delightful, showing off Roche’s excellent vocals and helping to tell the story and add to the humour. A particular crowd pleaser is the song he sings about feeling a “Little Mix of emotions” about meeting his ex-fiancée, one-quarter of one of the world’s biggest girlbands who he can’t name for contractual reasons (but her name rhymes with ‘messy’).
As a solo performer, Roche effortlessly fills and commands the space with an utterly infectious energy. He’s not afraid to take the mickey out of himself — in fact, he does it very, very often — and he’s an incredibly funny guy.
Beyond the laughs, Neporrhoids is deeply confessional and offers a vulnerable insight into what it’s like to get everything you ever wanted and lose it all.
The moments where Roche reenacts conversations with his dad are especially touching, which he achieves with a simple but effective use of voice effects to switch between the pair.
Neporrhoids is performed with such an easy confidence that it’s hard to believe this is Roche’s first time at the Fringe. I sincerely hope it’s not his last, as Neporrhoids is an absolute highlight for me.
Clever, creative, and one-of-a-kind, Neporrhoids showcases Jake Roche as a genius storyteller who’s not afraid to confront harsh truths in the name of authenticity. A must-see!
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