AN UP and coming female comedian is putting her unique Essex girl-inspired comedy in the national limelight after being given the chance to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Comedy writer and actress Abbie Murphy set off for Scotland, where she will premiere her one-woman show Girl On Fire, which features loveable Essex girl and 'it girl' Stephanie Vange.
"My inspiration came from the Alicia Keys song Girl on Fire," the dancer turned comedienne told the Chronicle.
"I decided to make a YouTube video of an Essex girl struggling in her high heels. It branched from there, taking the character from a silent physical comedy, and bringing her to life."
Abbie, who also runs iHeart Productions, which supplies Bollywood dancers for films and music videos, has been testing her character on the London comedy circuit.
It's billed as a "totes amazeballs" show charting the highs and lows of an endearingly clueless Essex girl looking to find her place in the world and make it rich.
It clambers through her bid for success, stardom, love and life in general, but aims to demonstrate today's obsession with social status, celebrity lifestyle, mobile phones and social networking sites.
"I love and loathe the Essex stereotype, I think people from Essex have huge hearts and a great sense of humour, but perhaps I'm biased," she said.
"I also think we are good at laughing at ourselves, and I've enjoyed observing different characters and portraying those traits through my character Stephanie. She's not quite as exaggerated as the personalities of shows like Towie, she's a lot more real, a normal girl not sure who to look up to, or where to aim in life.
"I applied for the Fringe Festival in January with nothing written. I made it my new year's resolution to start doing stand up and sketch comedy.
"I didn't find out I got the slot until March. It was pretty daunting as I had a 55-minute slot at fringe, and I was still only doing five minute gigs at open mic nights.
"I made my first draft in May and tested it on London comedy circuits as stand up, but now I'm previewing it as a one woman show," added Abbie, who featured as a dancer in the Bafta-nominated BBC3 show Bollywood Carmen and recently worked with Little Britain star Matt Lucas for his new comedy series Pompidou.
"I decided to take a course at Fringe on stand-up comedy with the Laughing Horse Company.
"I had to do a five minute stand up at the Fringe Festival last summer as part of that course. Although it was only 40 people watching it felt like thousands. I thought if I can get through this without dying then I could do it again."
And it seems to have worked after Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders urged her followers on twitter to go and see her, saying: "If you're at Ed fest check out Abbie Murphy, Very new but very good."
Abbie, who has a part time job at Independent London Estate Agency, told the Chronicle: "I used to be a professional dancer before I started comedy so I've dealt with nerves before, but nothing like the anxiety of stand up!
"To keep myself calm, I just make sure I put in the hours of practise
"It is an incredible amount of work to pull off a show at fringe, physically, mentally and financially, but it is truly magical – they shut down everything for the arts festival for a whole month, there's no city like it," added Abbie.
"Edinburgh Fringe gives artists a platform to try things out, it is how great things start. The Fringe festival is unlike anything else for that reason, freedom to create something that may not fit anywhere else, anything goes.
"I've got nothing to lose, except cash, self respect and self esteem, but who needs that anyway?"
If you are heading to the festival this summer, Abbie is performing at The Counting House, Attic Room at 1.10pm until August 24.
