Theatre review: Bombastic Declaration of Love

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: There's an intriguing idea that lands a little too late in Julie Cafmeyer's charming, if self-absorbed, Big in Belgium show about a twenty-something's quest for love.

Bombastic Declaration of Love

Summerhall (Venue 26)

JJJ

There’s an intriguing idea that lands a little too late in Julie Cafmeyer’s charming, if self-absorbed, Big in Belgium show about a twentysomething’s quest for love. It’s when she makes the connection between the impersonal numbers of a library membership barcode and the weird geographical co-ordinates once given to her by a dowser in an effort to bring her peace. Somewhere between these strings of digits and the infinity of the universe, she suspects there’s a mathematical solution to love’s impossible equation.

Without the mystery solution, she’s all at sea. In a Spalding Gray-inspired monologue, she takes us through a litany of short-lived relationships and the paper trail of intemperate texts, explicit diary entries and unsent letters that chart their decline. The free-living man in a camper van meets her bombastic declaration of love with indifference. Believing there’s always something better round the corner, she shows similar indifference to another lover over a depressing bottle of champagne.

With frequent audience exchanges and a diverting audio-visual accompaniment, it’s a lightweight piece of gossipy soul-searching – a breezy start to the morning, but more like raw material than the fully-developed show it could yet become.

Mark Fisher

Until 27 August. Today 10:30am.