This performance did not go as planned. Borrows says so in a message accompanying the movie download she provides. The message is sort of a ‘sorry, not sorry’ if we feel “short-changed”. There is an offer of money back if we go to one of her future shows – in the form of having a drink bought for us – as long as we “buy a ticket first, link in the bio”. There is no bio.

The concept is a stoner chat and cooking show. The atmosphere of the video and the promo certainly is cannabis-positive, though in the aforementioned message, Borrows refers to herself as having a drug problem. The Fringe warning label mentions mental illness and addiction. These are not discussed in the video. So it is not clear whether she is trying to normalise cannabis use. Borrows informs us in the opening information that her cannabis is prescribed. It is highly unlikely a doctor would prescribe cannabis to someone who thinks they have a problem with it.

What is delivered is not far from what was promised. It was promoted as containing interviews with comedians. There is an interview with one comedian, Emma Jean, which takes up about a quarter of the show. The show is also promoted as being 60 minutes long, when it actually comes in at 43 minutes.

These are relatively minor differences, and we do hear a little about Jean’s “favourite stoner snacks and herbal history” as the promo says. The bulk of the show is Borrows showing us how to cook two dishes using cannabis as an ingredient. I think what Borrows is referring to when she says the video is not what she hoped is the low production quality and lack of direction.

The video quality is low, with poor lighting, and a single camera shot maintained the whole 43 minutes. There are no closeups of cooking, something you expect to feature in cooking shows. The lighting and sound change about a third of the way through, after a declared “smoke break”, with the lighting changing from warm to cold, and the sound levels being re-set too high so the final 30 minutes or so has distorted sound. There are audience members off-camera, and the camera seems to be getting bumped from time to time.

There is a script but there seems to have been little if any rehearsal, as the flow is very disjointed. There seems to be little effort in editing to fix this, with many jump cuts making it worse. I am repeatedly distracted by problems with production and narrative flow. Editing and direction are both lacking.

As a concept, a stoner chat show is risky, and like all chat shows relies on presenting strong characters with interesting and funny things to say to each other. Some of the material here had entertainment potential. Borrows and Jean can be engaging and funny. Unfortunately, you have to work to find this content.

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