Full disclosure early on, this is going to be a fawning review. It is a joke that this show wasn’t nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award, BUT I do need to get one thing off my chest before we start… The venue! The venue Jessie! Come on.

Crammed into a hotel basement storage closet and having to lean forward for the entire show because one of the P.R guys decided to stuff his inconsiderate, wide shouldered lump of a bestie in to the seat next to me was not a suitable experience for what I can only say was the most surprisingly brilliant show of my fringe.

None of that of course is Jessie Cave’s fault and this is most definitely a clown on the rise. I caught her Bookworm show a few years ago and found it generally entertaining and sweet but the performer who appeared on stage in front of me this year hasn’t just improved she has stepped up her game like few I can recall.

The show gives us a brutally honest, pained and very funny view in to the life and relationships of Jessie Cave. Since I last saw her she has had two children and very recently ended the relationship with their father (comedian Alfie Brown). This is a beautifully scripted breakdown and recovery that has to be seen to be believed – this is the kind of theatre that I come to the festival for, you honestly feel like this clown is putting a little bit of her heart and soul out there every day – the definition of blood, sweat and tears… with a little too much of the blood in some parts!

There is a neurosis that we all understand in Jessie’s comedy, it plays on your insecurities and many an awkward laugh can be heard as we acknowledge that we too have at times “been there”.

If you get the chance please go and see Sunrise, you will not be disappointed. Her time at Hogwarts may have been short, and a long time ago, but performances like this show us that she is easily one of the most talented people to have graduated from that entirely fictional educational institution.

Clown Stars: * * * * *

@The Stand Comedy Club, Edinburgh