Theatre review: Beauty

The Royal Scots Club (Venue 241)

***

Photographer Ty Jackson was once the glamorous bad boy of the art scene, but he hasn’t exhibited for five years and there are rumours he’s losing his touch.

With an important exhibition looming, Ty is holed up in his remote Perthshire home photographing teenagers, trying to capture the essence of natural, unaffected beauty. But his agent’s losing patience, his girlfriend is fed up, and an undercover reporter is preparing a sting which could finish his career.

The nature of celebrity is held up to scrutiny in Claire Wood’s new play, performed by Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group (EGTG), with Gregor Haddow leading a strong cast. Desperate to regain his fame, Ty seems to have forgotten that taking pictures of underage girls unchaperoned will lay him open to suspicion, while they seem more streetwise than he does with agents and plans for modelling careers.

There are plenty of interesting ideas here, and at times the play needs to take a clearer line through them: is it about false allegations of paedophilia, the nature of art, or one man’s desperate attempts to recapture the good fortune that made him famous in the first place?

Until 12 August. Today 9pm.