Theatre review: The F Word

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Jacob (Jack Tricker) and Tommy (Evan Rees) are two regular teenage boys '“ permanently engaged in a firefight of testosterone-charged banter about girls, booze and video games '“ but with one key difference: Jacob has testicular cancer, and has six weeks to live.

ZOO (Venue 124)

***

With his final days on earth, he and Tommy plan a party that will allow Jacob to say goodbye to their peers on his own terms (though not entirely – the word “funeral” is forbidden by Jacob’s mum).

Rees is particularly entertaining – not just as Tommy, but as an array of supporting characters who flesh out the boys’ world: Jacob’s mum and a classmate nicknamed “ASBO Josh”. Both leads deserve praise for fully committing to the roles. Tricker and Rees’ natural rapport, however, is sometimes undermined by scripted teenage boys’ banter that is a little too witty. Some less-polished wordplay would have made the pair a bit more believable Similarly, while the actors do justice to the emotional scenes that accompany Jacob’s eventual decline, the scenes themselves feel heavy-handed. Yes, this is a “cancer play”, so it will come with a jumbo-sized helping of sad bits, but it requires a lighter touch than this.

Until 28 August. Today 3:05pm.