Theatre Review: Give Me One Moment in Time, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh

Writer and performer of this one-man show, Doug Crossley, starts out with the full Whitney Houston the title suggests.

Doug Crossley's one man show is poignant, if a little unfocused.

Give Me One Moment in Time, Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh ***

Then he breaks off and tells us he’s not going to do that – although he’d like to. He asks us to imagine what the play will be like, and sings a song about falling in love with a goat.Around 15 minutes in, we get a hint of a theme: the suicide of a friend. She (we never learn her name) had planned to direct his first play, Goldfish Living – inspired by his brother’s suicide attempt – at the Edinburgh Fringe some years before. We also learn that, deep in grief, Crossley learned to play the piano from scratch – which he does remarkably well.

This play-with-songs is not without insight or poignant moments, but Crossley’s tendency to backtrack and digress means that it often lacks focus. Instead of drawing us in to the story of his friend he tends to give us more of himself, but without the variety of tone and content this exercise really needs.

Until 26 August

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