Festival review: The Last Fairytale; Sweet Grassmarket (venue 18)

The debut production from young British company Atlas Theatre, formed last year to create “uniquely remarkable stage experiences”, The Last Fairytale displays considerable promise, even if aspects of its execution do need more work.

We’re welcomed by a belligerent MC whose face-paint renders him the very embodiment of a scary clown, and who sets our scene at an abandoned London puppet theatre, represented by the small proscenium arch behind him. The red curtains open on a pair of puppet ghosts re-enacting fairytales from their former repertoire, even in the absence of a puppeteer or audience.

While the miming of strings being pulled is probably chief of those aforementioned aspects needing attention, the voice-over recitation of two dark supernatural tales is compelling, while the increasing interaction of the puppets’ own voices with these narratives steadily opens up the drama’s metaphorical dimensions.

There’s a loss of focus near the end; the internal logic of this metaphysical realm is more than a little muddled, and “uniquely remarkable” is still some way off, but there’s interesting ambition and imagination at play here.

Rating: ***

Until 26 August. Today 7:25pm.