Theatre review: Uncoupled, Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14), Edinburgh

By ALISON KERR
Published on 07/08/2012 13:04

UNCOUPLED, written by Richard Bickley – who won a Fringe First Award for his first play, back in 1997 – is the story of the slow, drawn-out and painful deterioration of a 26-year marriage, as seen through the eyes of the wife, Suzanne (Louise Templeton), who has battled her husband’s porn addiction – and lost.

Uncoupled

Gilded Balloon Teviot (venue 14)

Rating: ***

That this one-woman play sustains interest through its 50 minutes is almost entirely down to its star’s affecting performance, which engages the audience from the off – Louise Templeton makes direct eye contact with punters, to the point where it’s tempting to nod when she poses rhetorical questions about relationships.

Boiled down to its script or in the hands of an inferior actress, Uncoupled would be considerably less effective and convincing. It’s hardly “humorous and heartbreaking in equal measure”, as the flyers state; and for quite a long stretch of the play it’s a struggle to understand what keeps this woman in her relationship.

• Until 27 August. Today 12:45pm.