Theatre review: Mary Go Nowhere

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Sunny, cynical, splendid LA with its bright white teeth, raw eating and cross-fit machines: it's a familiar landscape, but one that writer Julia Shavers slices through with a cool, uncompromising comedy that could easily be developed into a TV sitcom.

Assembly George Square Studios (Venue 17)

***

The sparking smiles of a carousel of colourful, cartoon-like characters are undercut by the kind of implausibly witty dialogue no-one ever manages in real life, but instead ends up in heightened theatre plays, such as this, where it is nevertheless great fun to listen to.

Mary (played by Shavers) is a middle-class mom who wants to get her foul-mouthed child, Tommy, into the top class at school. While his adult sensibilities could earn him a place in Family Guy, the cliquey women of the PTA – with their bouncy hair and aspirational gym wear – aren’t impressed.

A farce-like ending, involving a fair amount of gun crime, provides an abrupt conclusion to a series of amusing scenes that could develop into a stronger overarching story. But Shavers has a great comic voice that doesn’t take itself too seriously and gives us a delightfully frivolous hour of entertainment, delivered with flair by the polished cast.

Until 28 August. Today 1:25pm.