Play On Words

I went to see Play on Words for no better reason than that I liked its crossword themed ad in the Fringe brochure. For quite a while I had no idea where it was going, or indeed if it was going anywhere.

First one then two men in a set composed mostly of boxes seem to be enacting a play, albeit not very well. The guy on the lighting presents his cues as though they are disco favourites. We are certainly in the realms of absurd theatre with elaborate wordplay and a considerable amount of repetition. That all this confusion never quite lost me was due to the fact that a lot of it is funny, although apparently shapeless.

The arrival of an actress to audition for the role of a doctor brings a gradual shift of dynamics, and past relationships begin to form patterns. Finally, this reveals itself as a very good play indeed, and does so in such a way that reveals just how well it has been written and performed from the start. Seemingly nonsensical or meaningless scenes take on a fresh perspective.

I've rarely been so wrong-footed by a play. I should have been putting the clues together from the start; after all, crosswords were what brought me to it. Seeing the opening scene replayed at the end and being something quite different to what it had seemed provided a profound and unexpected satisfaction.

Congratulations to the cast, Ian Keir Attard, Yaz Al-Shaater and Victoria Ross, as well as to their sometimes seen and often heard backstage team for pulling the wool over my eyes so comprehensively.

I'm not going to give anything away; there's still time to catch it and hopefully it might have an after-Fringe life. Instead I'll leave you with one of the many puns that litter this multi-layered piece. “Jesus was nailed...” “2 across”.