Brendon Ludlow
27 Aug 2026
The Bed-In
Get Under the Covers with Belle ★★★★
There are Free Fringe shows, and then there are shows that seem to have taken a wrong turn on the way to a much bigger room. The Bed-In is emphatically the latter.
From the beginning, it’s a sausage party, quite literally, as Birmingham’s beauty goddess Belle DeBeauvoir invites us into bed for a deliciously strange hour of guided meditation, razor-sharp comedy, burlesque and genuinely exceptional vocals. Belle has been rebirthed, and apparently we’re all invited under the covers to witness it.
And those vocals. Those vocals.
Belle’s voice is a kaleidoscope of colours: rich, surprising and constantly shifting. There are flashes of Kaleidoscope Eyes psychedelia, a little Beatles dreaminess, then suddenly something altogether darker, liquid velvet poured through the backstreets of dirty Berlin. Belle can move from sumptuous cabaret chanteuse to wicked comedy without ever losing control of the room.
The writing is equally impressive. This isn’t lowest-common-denominator comedy dressed up in sequins. The jokes are intelligent, highbrow and gloriously ridiculous, sometimes demanding the audience actually keep up. When every reference doesn’t immediately land, DeBeauvoir simply powers forward with the confidence of someone who knows exactly what she has created. By the time Greek gods, Prince Andrew and spiders somehow find themselves sharing the same comic universe, you realise just how cleverly constructed the madness is.
And yes, Belle may shank you if you’re lucky.
Beneath all the glorious filth and absurdity is serious craft. The modern lyrical rewrites are clever, the character work assured and the burlesque delivered with the confidence of a performer who understands exactly how to tease a room. DeBeauvoir knows when to luxuriate in a moment and when to puncture it with a perfectly timed gag.
What is baffling is finding this much skill buried within the vast Free Fringe landscape. This does not feel like a Free Fringe show. It feels like a fully formed cabaret waiting for the venue, production support and audience numbers capable of matching its ambition.
Belle DeBeauvoir is far too talented to remain one of the Fringe’s best-kept secrets. Get under the covers now because next time, hopefully, you’ll have to buy a bloody ticket.
★★★★