Alison Spittle made a triumphant return to the Old Fire Station last night to serve up (ahem) her latest treat: the Oxford leg of her Soup tour.

Although she is Irish and lives in London, this show was something of a homecoming for Alison, who last graced the OFS with her hugely and deservedly successful show, Glacier, which was the venue’s festive play last year. I suspect that about half of the audience attended having loved Glacier, and they were in for a bit of a shock. A testament to her versatility as a comedic writer, this show was far more personal and gritty, and didn’t land quite right with many of what my companion for the evening termed a ‘Sunday night Radio 4 crowd’.

The common thread between these two pieces was Alison's gift for observation, but while Glacier dealt with festive loneliness through the lens of middle-class-pursuit-du-jour wild swimming, the subject matter here was mental illness in the context of the cost of living crisis. Accordingly, it felt like there was a mismatch between the energy of the audience and that of the show.

Despite this, Alison skillfully conjured up a magical comedy atmosphere, setting the tone with some excellent location-specific banter (I won’t spoil the apparent historical significance of a local beloved curry joint but it demonstrated pure genius) and a medical anecdote that gives a new definition to the term ‘eager beaver’.

Introducing the concept of the show, Alison explained that what she loves about soup is that it involves ‘no chewing, only flavour’ - and I would argue that this could reflect an apt ambition for the structure of the show itself, in that the inventive, fun routines made the chewier subject matter easier to swallow. Such silliness as getting power mad with bath bombs, exploring what the ‘C’ in ‘CPTSD’ stands for, and turning teddy bear ham into face masks, deftly pointed up the infuriating state of NHS mental health provisions and the often lethal results of over a decade of austerity. The years of experience such a professional comedian has was evident in how she had many of the audience in utter hysterics while describing some of the most traumatic moments of her life.

These routines were sprinkled through with references to Alison’s favourite dish, which loosely structured her callbacks and gave a unique framework to her audience interactions. A further demonstration of her comedic talent was in her whimsical meanderings that gave a sense of freshness and spontaneity to a well-rehearsed hour: it was a pleasure to witness someone taking so much delight in something they have honed and to see the process of finding new comedy gold right in the moment play out.

Unfortunately there aren’t currently plans to bring this tour back to Oxford or anywhere nearby, but having had the chance to witness Alison Spittle go from strength to strength as a seriously funny stand up, I can confidently recommend that whatever form her next performance in Oxford takes, you shouldn’t sleep on tickets.