‘Bitch-cough-ski’. It’s how you pronounce Byczkowski, according to Byczkowski, though this level of detail hadn’t filtered through to front of house at the Gilded Balloon, who had plumped for ‘Bzzz-cow-ski’. There are far more substantial problems in the world, which Byczkowski was all too aware of – and amongst all the personal trauma and quarter-life crises stories that still seem to be all the rage at the Fringe, this show, at least for me, was something of a palate cleanser: good, clean fun that quickly ticks various boxes so we can settle in for some hearty laughs.
Narrative arc? Yes. Relatable theme? Well, you can’t get more relatable than living and dying. Before getting stuck into all of that, however, Byczkowski would like it known that while she doesn’t do trauma because she has no trauma to ‘do’, she does do ‘pissed off’. And there’s plenty to be pissed off about, though this doesn’t become a long rant about politics and parliamentarians, or even a short rant about them. There’s plenty of annoyance to be found elsewhere, in (amongst other things) acronyms and abbreviations, in ‘words on walls’ (‘live, laugh, love’ can do one) and tattoos. As for rimming – what possible net positive contribution to the betterment of society is to be found in that?
I’ve never seen The Traitors (shock horror) but it seems logical to me that a winner of Season 1 of that show (it transpires, on looking it up, there were three winners in total) would want to die by being a murder victim. (It’s what they do on The Traitors, isn’t it? Set about ‘murdering’ people?) She has previous experience working in palliative care, which is at least partly why she can talk about death so readily. An obsession with the Titanic disaster stretches back decades, though for obvious reasons (look it up if you need to) she has no intention of making a trip to see the wreckage in person any time soon.
Withdrawing her handheld microphone momentarily, Byczkowski self-knowingly declared to the room that she sounds exactly the same. Far from being over-powering, I thought that was just wonderful. Such a warm, bubbly, charismatic personality – I thoroughly enjoyed her mischievous and dark humour from beginning to end.
Review by Chris Omaweng
In her hilarious, no-nonsense style, Hannah Byczkowski explores everything from craft projects for loved one’s ashes, funeral faux pas and why she’s not running from serial killers.
She delves deep into death, getting older, and all things morbid, including her near-death experience.
But this is not a sob story…
HANNAH BYCZKOWSKI: KILLER
Gilded Balloon Teviot at the Edinburgh Fringe
5 to 30 August 2026
