Edinburgh Fringe theatre reviews: Lifelong | The BBC’s First Homosexual | 11½ Angry Men and more...

Lifelong ★★★★

Assembly George Square Studios (Venue 17) until 17 August

The capabilities of technology, for good or ill, is already looking like a strong theme in this Fringe, which is perhaps not surprising given the speed at which fields like AI are developing. The science in this play by Glasgow-based Lynda Radley (Futureproof, The Interference), performed by theatre students from Pepperdine University and co-produced by Scottish company Scissor Kick, still feels like science-fiction, if only just.

The pioneers of the Lifelong Protocol have had their lives extended thanks to a BrinCorps, a tech giant which claims to have reversed ageing. The price they pay is to live inside a sealed facility, avoiding stress and anything that might compromise their weak immune systems, working out, having VR “experiences” and being looked after by AI caregivers.

The arrival of Kit, a logistics man from the wrong side of the tracks, sets in motion a series of revelations, from the success of the technology itself to the ruthlessness of the corporation, from unresolved family issues to scientists facing up to the way their discoveries have been misused.

That’s a lot of plot in a play just over an hour long. Radley’s script is an intricate weave of storylines, but the sheer number of them means this starts to feel more like a pilot for a TV mini series. The ensemble of 11 Pepperdine actors do a good job of carving out distinct voices in the time they have, but ironically it is Eden (Mandy Tatum), an AI caregiver with a penchant for quoting 1980s movies, who tugs most at the heart strings.

Ultimately, there is barely time to explore the fascinating question at the heart of the play: if science could offer us eternal life, would it be worth the cost? And would it be life at all, or just “more years”? Susan Mansfield

The BBC’s First Homosexual ★★★★

Assembly George Square (Venue 8) until 16 August

In 1954, the BBC set about producing its first documentary radio programme that openly discussed – and dared to name – homosexuality. It took three years for the programme even to be broadcast. Writer Stephen M Hornby’s remarkably compact, focused drama for Manchester-based Inkbrew Productions doesn’t seek to recreate that 70-year-old audio work, of which only a transcript remains – though snippets of its interviews and discussions provide often toe-curling examples of unenlightened mid-20th-century attitudes.

Instead, Hornby focuses on the drama behind the documentary’s creation, the careful tiptoeing around fragile sensibilities from BBC producers, the terror that even mentioning the issue might tar the Corporation with the brush of the very sexual depravity that it was attempting to shed light on. Most impressively, however, Hornby transforms what might have been an abstract discussion into the ultimately heartbreaking story of three men – two well-meaning BBC producers, plus young, naive Tom from Oldham – caught up in the sexual controversies of the times.

Andrew Pollard and Max Lohan give supple, subtle performances as the unnamed producers, letting slip guarded but unmistakable hints at personal stakes in the subject they’re researching. They multitask convincingly, too, as a whole cast of minor characters – Lohan is gruff and non-committal as a needy guardsman on the pull, while Pollard is quietly commanding as MC in an illicit gay bar.

Threading these stories together, however, is the gradual sexual awakening of Tom, who’s played with wide-eyed eagerness by Jolyon Benson: though some of his escapades may seem a little confident for such an innocent, it’s Tom’s final realisation that provides the show’s emotional gut-punch.

For all Hornby’s clipped, concise writing, and its repressed emotions, The BBC’s First Homosexual is a work of aching sadness, brought vividly alive in director Oliver Hurst’s finely detailed production. Through deeply human stories and quietly powerful performances, it’s a show of hope, anger and deep tragedy. David Kettle

11½ Angry Men ★★★

Pleasance at EICC (Venue 150b) until 22 August

It’s been 23 years since Fringe stalwart Guy Masterson hit gold by producing and directing a new stage version of director Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film 12 Angry Men, one of the great American masterpieces of crime and punishment. What particularly caught Edinburgh’s imagination was Masterson’s casting of a bunch of stand-up Fringe comedians in the straight roles of the jurors.

What’s different about this revived version, as the title suggests, is that the comedy is to the fore in a new spoof take by Owen O’Neill, one of Masterson’s original and current Angry Men. Also returning are Phil Nichol, David Calvitto and Ian Coppinger, with the latter’s five-foot two-inch stature casting him as the ‘half’ of the title, and also delivering a vague connection to the film’s point: that easy prejudice mustn’t be allowed to triumph.

Don’t expect serious, however, as the jurors try to decide whether a young vegetarian lad has strangled his bullying father to death with an unpleasant-smelling sausage. Alongside Tom Stade, Terry Alderton, Mark Maier and JJ Whitehead, the new cast includes Stephen K Amos as the snobbish, English jury foreman, Joe Pasquale as tap-dancing, elderly Juror 2, Spencer Jones as preppy Juror 4 and Glenn Wool as golf boor Juror 6. Once again it’s a starry ensemble, but the light, absurdist humour doesn’t quite add up to the sum of its extremely talented parts. David Pollock

READ MORE: A woman's place: three playwrights reflect on the Traverse's female-fronted Fringe programme

They're Just Small Town (Northern) Lads ★★★

Anatomy Lecture Theatre at Summerhall (Venue 26) until 16 August

It’s the early 2000s and between Paint and Messenger, Microsoft is having a moment. The world of Nathan Jonathan’s solo show They're Just Small Town (Northern) Lads is a millennial’s dream – boasting CD players and emo girls – but these “simpler times” are complicated by protagonist Nathan’s reckoning with what it is to be a man.

He recounts five years of an adolescence marked by both the glee of boyhood crushes and shattering encounters with domestic and racial violence. Despite a slow start, Jonathan is adept at comedy, taking on a host of characters that feel well delineated and returning to his charming self in what are the tightest moments of the show. While he remains a delight to watch, clunky lighting cues are at times distracting, and the rich world of the early 2000s could certainly be immersive and rewarding with more cohesive production design.

Jonathan’s earnest exploration of masculinity, violence and what we choose to carry forward is touching – but ultimately, its message in a time replete with these narratives plays it a bit too safe. What we get is an engaging, if predictable, trajectory of tension and explosion, illuminating the points at which we might choose differently. Mika Morava

Departure Is My Homecoming ★★★

theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39) until 15 August

A quiet and intimate setting is created from the outset as a solitary figure sits, draped in a translucent black cloth. The figure is soon revealed as a Water Dweller.

There is a controlled feel to this historical exploration of fishing culture in Hong Kong, examining the relationship Dwellers have with the water, the land and the transition between the two.

The way Edwin Chuk Yin Man approaches the storytelling and the lyrical and poetic quality of some of the writing in this one-man show is engaging, sweet and at times sombre. Along with his gentle movements and delivery, it almost feels like you are drifting along the waves with him.

A plain white sheet stretching across the stage is, for the most part, used to good effect for projections of historical images, key dates, text and maps. However, some of the projections don't land as well as perhaps hoped and could benefit from being clearer or unobscured by the performer.

The tone remains much the same across the 45 minutes, and a couple of heightened moments to disrupt or enhance this rhythm would help the more poignant elements land more firmly. But the concept is intriguing, and there is a real sense of care towards the source material and its historical significance. Suzanne O'Brien

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