Theatre review: The Virginia Monologues

Published on Sunday 23 August 2009 20:12

THE VIRGINIA MONOLOGUES – WHY IT'S GREAT TO BE OLD *** GILDED BALLOON TEVIOT (VENUE 14)

RESPLENDENT in Vivienne Westwood, sixty-something agony aunt Virginia Ironside has come to the Fringe to share her thoughts on getting old.

In her younger years she interviewed the Rolling Stones, Hendrix and Joplin and had her fair share of sex and drugs. "I was cool," she says. Now bird tables, gardening and playing with her grandson in the park are more her kind of thing.

Her mission is to celebrate the advantages of losing your memory, lowering your expectations and taking frequent naps. But she also has some useful and subversive suggestions about the kind of bad behaviour you can get away with in old age.

Ironside speaks with the kind of clipped English accent you rarely hear these days. She has a wry smile and a delicious twinkle in her eye. As you might expect from a problem page writer, she is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects – including embarrassing illnesses, funerals and geriatric sex. But the whole thing remains about as far from the modern confessional style as you can get.

This doyenne of Fleet Street delivers her observations with precision, style and wit. Her writing is beautiful, funny, sensible and smart – and her show, directed by The Young Ones' Nigel Planer, is an absolute delight.

• Until 31 August. Today 12:15pm.