Theatre review: The Man on the Moor

Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61)

****

When the body of an unidentified man is found on Saddleworth Moor in December 2015, he is convinced his years of wondering are finally at an end.

Following his successful solo show at the Fringe last year, The Trunk, Max Dickins is back with another melding of fact and fiction, keeping the audience guessing about where one ends and the other begins. The body on the moor, for example, was entirely real, with poison in his blood and a train ticket from Ealing in his pocket, but no ID.

Like The Trunk, The Man on the Moor follows the current trend for storytelling rather than acting, telling and explaining rather than showing, and, while Dickins’ delivery is confident and polished, some will find his writing style a little verbose. But this is a carefully constructed, engaging story which hooks us at the very beginning and doesn’t let go.

When a person goes missing, those closest to them face a choice. Matthew’s mum, for example, “pulled a tarpaulin over the volcano and pretended we didn’t live next to it”, getting on with her life and moving in with a Heston Blumenthal wannabe called Colin.

Others find themselves unable to move on, like Julie from Matthew’s support group, who still leaves a note for her husband every time she goes out, even though he vanished seven years ago.

The Man on the Moor is a reminder of the scale of the problem – more than 200,000 people were reported missing in Britain last year. It also reminds us of how little we really understand another person, even one to whom we are close.

Until 27 August. Today 3pm.