Edinburgh festival / Upside Down to Oz

Upside Down to Oz

When mild-mannered family man John takes up his father's mission to build a boat, it becomes more than a weekend hobby. Indeed, things take an obsessive turn as John works himself up into a crazed, delusionary state, believing himself to be a contemporary Noah building a latter-day Ark. Simon Little's one-man play for Gallus Theatre offers an understated insight into how easy it is for everyday folk to take an unhinged turn and go overboard.

Hugh Loughlan gives a delicate, sensitive performance as John, boldly resisting the temptation to indulge in obvious histrionics to chart his eventual collapse. Or relapse - for, as the play unravels, it becomes clear that this isn't John's first descent into the murky depths. While the reasons aren't made explicit, it tries neither to preach nor to offer glib quasi-political sentiments on the state of manic depression. Rather, it states simply that this could happen to anyone.

n Famous Grouse House. To Aug 25