Jessica Fostekew: Luxury Tramp, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Edinburgh

Forthright presence: Jessica Fostekew (KIERON HELSDON)

Jessica Fostekew has enjoyed some decent placings in a number of comedy competitions in the last three years and this solid Fringe debut will be another boon to her career.

The comedian and actress chooses, and sticks to, a nice roomy theme – her tendency to try too hard to please people and to being too acquiescent in certain situations.

Slightly reminiscent of Tracey Ullman's posh hippy character in Three of a Kind, the "medium posh" performer has a forthright and strident presence and pulls her audience in quickly, putting them at ease that they are in safe hands.

Fostekew's most admirable quality is her conversational style and easy charm when it comes to talking about her own life, from her family to reading traffic reports on the radio. This means she can make even contrived material sound fairly natural so when she delivers the line: "I'm like a Jacuzzi, decadent but hygienically suspicious," you can almost forgive her the inherent cheesiness.

Though her material isn't always adventurous she shows that she's ready to mine her own life in an authentic way for material. This includes recounting therapy sessions but also episodes of teen trauma when an impromptu house party was broken up by her mother who, after ordering everyone out asked: "Does anyone need a lift home?"

To 28 August (0131 622 6552)