Theatre review: Leave a Message, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Edinburgh

Ed and Sarah turn up to clean up a flat, a place that looks like a dustbin after a heavy night.

Leave a Message, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Venue 24)

Leave a Message, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Edinburgh * * *

The place is strewn with debris of a person or a party far past the sell-by date: a computer playing porn, half-empty bottles of cherry vodka, furniture that stinks of urine, a clutterer’s collection of old receipts and flyers. The clues to the mystery begin in the unanswered phone messages, the files fallen across the floor.

An intriguing opening, and for a Fringe show someone has put a lot of work into staging this theatrical mess. Ed, played by Ed Coleman, is a fine portrait of dolefulness, shadowy lines on a pale and drawn face, mouth in a perpetual mope; we long for a little loosening up. Sarah, Eleanor Fanyinka is his bright-eyed companion. Denise Stephenson brightens up the act as Linda, a fine old tart with a heart of gold, for which she charges by the hour.

This is a brave, intelligent play, which explores the story of an unreconciled son, and the shadow of inherited alcoholism. A little sadly, it bypassed the promise of a deliciously black comedy, in favour of a more sobering message.

Until 26 August

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