Theatre reviews: The Funeral Club, Oran Mor, Glasgow | So Far So Good, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh | The Last Pearl, Traverse, Edinburgh

So Far So Good, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh ****

The Last Pearl, Traverse, Edinburgh ****

Even in tough times, there’s a huge variety of theatre available in Scotland; from the visual and literary grandeur of the big Dundee Rep-Royal Lyceum production of Sunset Song, now at the Lyceum, to shows that feature no words at all, and others that revel in fast-talking, super-contemporary dialogue.

Actor and writer Elmi Quinn’s Play, Pie and Pint debut play The Funeral Club is an example of the third kind; a play that takes the toughest of subjects and handles it with an intense Glasgow vernacular wit and energy that never disguises, and sometimes heightens, the poignancy of the subject in hand. Set in and around a teenage cancer ward, the play focusses on three young patients who have become close friends: Callum, who is on his way to recovery, Emma, who is shocked to learn that she is likely to survive after all, and Jade, who has just received the worst possible news.

Based on Quinn’s own experience as a teenage cancer survivor, the play is heartbreakingly powerful and funny in its evocation of the brutal honesty of these young people about the prospect of early death. In a deftly-structured 55 minutes, it briskly evolves into a miniature road movie, featuring an illicit trip to Fort William, a possible minor jewellery heist, and a clear-eyed recognition that one thing that needn’t worry terminal teenage patients in the 2020’s is the hugely stressful economic future facing many of their contemporaries.

In Maureen Carr’s deft and heartfelt production, Kyle Gardiner is an inspired Callum, Caroline McKeown a beautiful Jade, and Quinn herself a powerful and charismatic Emma; in a show that sometimes moves too fast to catch all the glories of the dialogue, but is always deeply impressive, and sometimes – just for a moment – almost unbearably moving.

If language is the lifeblood of The Funeral Club, the newly-commissioned show So Far So Good, by Glasgow-based circus company Superfan, is an almost wordless show, featuring just a few fragments of speech. Created in the Cairngorms with children who live in the area, So Far So Good is staged on a u-shaped skate park of a stage, with its audience of 3-6 year-olds ranged along either side. Centre stage sits a large rock, around which the three performers run, swoop, balance, dance and cling for a vivid 50 minutes.

Co-directed by Ellie Dubois and Kim Donohoe of Superfan, So Far So Good is an exhilarating show, in many moods, about how much acrobatic fun human beings can have with their own bodies; and if the dance elements are sometimes a shade predictable, the acrobatics, design, music and lighting are joyous, and hugely successful in drawing the young audience into the fun.

And at the Traverse, this week, there’s also an exquisite piece of wordless theatre from Blue Raincoat of Sligo. Inspired by the ideas of environmentalist James Lovelock, The Last Pearl is a meditation in light, sound and imagery on the life of a pearl fisher, and her relationship with a marine world deeply affected and changed by the carelessness of human beings.

The story has an arc, involving ideas about care and restitution, and a final dedication to re-creating a world in which younger generations can thrive. What is stunning and unforgettable about this 65 minute show, though, is the series of exquisite visual images created by the five performers, via Jamie Vartan’s design and Barry McKinney’s magnificent lighting, from terrifying sea storms to brief cameos of domestic peace. The Last Pearl is dreamlike, meditative, beautiful and sometimes terrifying; and all driven by Joe Hunt’s tremendous soundscape, like a sea of sound bearing the narrative up, from beginning to end.

The Funeral Club is at Oran Mor, Glasgow, until 8 June; So Far So Good is at the Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, 8-10 June; The Last Pearl is at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until 8 June.