Theatre review: Carried Away

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: 'Glitter, gays and vodka' are three of Phoebe's favourite things, and now she's going to have to give them up.

C Royale (Venue 6)

***

A regular 26-year-old woman in the big city with a gay best friend, a permanently-burning incense stick on the coffee table and a weird habit of saying “Namaste” every time she takes a swig of alcohol (which is often), she’s become pregnant after a drunken one-night stand with the DJ at her local club. Pleasingly, clichéd portrayals of Phoebe as being deserving of judgment for this, or of the father as being anything but responsible and supportive are nowhere to be found. Instead, her past miscarriage at the age of 18 and the fears she still carries because of it – as well as her love for the unborn child – are revealed to the audience.

Created by co-writers and performers Lizzie Grace and Alexandra Simonet (it’s a one-woman play, which the pair take daily turns to perform; we saw Grace, a warm and amusingly lively actor), the piece is based upon the duo’s recent knowledge of their own mothers’ miscarriages.

By no means ground-breaking, it’s a sensitive and well-observed piece with a sharp, contemporary sense of humour, fully deserving of the emotional response it earns for its subject matter.

Until 20 August. Today 6pm.