Choice: Theatre

Blue Heart, Duke of York's, London WC2 (0171-565-5000)

With its dazzlingly theatrical sensibility and a supremely confident use of language, Caryl Churchill's cunningly balanced double bill made everything else at the Edinburgh Festival look underfed. The first half has the audience rocking with laughter as a family act out a world of possibilities as they await a daughter's return from Australia. The second half, in which a con-man hoodwinks elderly women into believing he is their long-lost son, deepens into a powerfully moving portrait of loss. Max Stafford-Clarke's meticulous, beautifully acted production for Out of Joint is alive to every moment. A constantly surprising knockout.