Theatre review: For the School Colours: The Life and Works of Angela Brazil

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Angela Brazil's novels are little known today, but she pioneered the writing of school stories for girls from the 1890s to the 1930s, selling more than 3 million books.

C Cubed (Venue 50)

***

Kate Stephenson’s play, produced by the lively Not Cricket Productions from York University, is a fast-paced romp through her story.

Brazil (there is debate in the play about whether it should be pronounced in the same way as the country, or as “Brazzle”) did not leave a full account of her life, but it seems she often used events from her life in her novels. Stephenson starts with a framework of the known facts and mines the books for scenarios to fill the gaps.

All this is delivered with a bucketload of charm and energy, in school-marmish, jolly-hockey-sticks style by the cast, led by Kosi Carter as the cheesecake-loving novelist. With considerable versatility and humour, they paint a picture of a woman who could be feisty and stubborn and had her fair share of grief, but deserves to be remembered for being one of the first to give young women a place at the centre of their own stories.

Until 28 August. Today 2:55pm.