Pope's Addiction Clinic review: From fearless and funny to heart-stoppingly raw

Now in its seventh year, the Vault Festival has exploded exponentially. This year’s arts binge features more than 400 shows from more than 2,000 performers. And binge is an apt word for opening event Pope’s Addiction Clinic, in which stand-ups share fearless, funny stories about dependency.

In this informal talking shop with nightly varied bills, actually taking place in the endearingly intimate Travelling Through bookstore a few metres from the main festival venue, addiction takes many forms. Genial host Pope Lonergan opened by admitting to an obsessiveness that has meant that this reformed drug addict has previously — no joke — also been hooked on books about the Hawaiian judicial system. Reading not snorting them one assumes.

His guests revealed a history of mainlining on similarly unlikely substances. Lucy Hopkins confessed to being fixated on spiritual growth. Belfast’s Matthew McAloone dissected living with family discord. And Joe Sutherland used this safe space to reveal how he could not exist without his fix of cheesy 1990s film Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.

Elsewhere, Kat Bond straddled a thin line between full, frank disclosure and character comedy. But the evening closed in heart-stoppingly raw style with Helen Duff’s compelling reflections on running.

Maybe, she suggested, addiction is about keeping busy to avoid thinking about just being human. Binge on this and more at Vault from now until March.

Until January 26. Vault Festival runs until March 17 (020 8050 9241, vaultfestival.com)