Theatre review: Buzz: A New Musical

This is the kind of show that you can probably only find at the Fringe: a lo-fi comedy musical about the history of the vibrator.

Star rating: ***

Venue: Greenside @ Infirmary Street (Venue 236)

Only actually it’s about more than that – in particular, a celebration of women’s sexuality and the battles that have been fought to get it as recognised in the same way men’s is.

Angie has split up with his self-obsessed boyfriend and her flatmates are determined to help her enjoy single life. Cue a series of surreal scenes; Cleopatra being presented with what may be the first ever sex toy; “The Roman Boys” doing a camp dance routine; a chorus line of Victorian women desperate for an appointment with something called “the massager”.

Like a surreal TV sitcom, Robyn Grant’s script intercuts flatshare living with Monty Python-esque song and dance numbers. Meanwhile composer James Ringer-Beck plays keyboards, at one point topless.

The story is less of a focus than the imaginative little musical routines, directed and choreographed by Taylor Danson and Allie Munro. But by the time everyone’s singing “me and my c***” at the end and a man is wearing a dress shaped like a vagina, the goal of embracing women’s sexuality has clearly been achieved.

Until 27 August. Today 8:45pm.

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