Edinburgh Festival Fringe REVIEW — Sex Lives Of Others *****

The average Scot has five sexual partners during his or her lifetime. That’s a small sample size when we want to know the answers to questions like: Will I still want it? Is it weird that I still want it? Is my interest in ”force play” weird? The queue of ticketholders waiting to fill The Pleasance’s tiny This Theatre suggests that the Sex Lives Of Others are of continuing interest, and this witty and assured first full-length, full-run production by writer Keely Winstone attempts to answer these questions for us.

Ms. Winstone is clearly as excited by word play as one of her Boggle-obsessed characters, and the play is cleverly constructed so that there’s enough going and, er, coming, to retain the spirit of a grand sex farce while the small space lets us feel like we have an intimate view into the bedrooms of parents Hilary and James and their younger neighbours Kerry and Sonny. The empathetic performances of Joanna Bending and Martin Miller, and Jessica Biglow and Matt Green, do justice to a script of easy and comfortable wit that gives us enough of the characters’ backgounds and history to make them seem real.

Throughout this hour-long show, the laughter of recognition fills the venue, and the punters file back out beaming happy smiles that are a compliment to everyone involved with the production, from director Hannah Eidnow to composer of the endearingly DIY riffs medley that welcomes us to the show, Ana Paola Ortiz.

Maybe we’re not that weird after all. Or maybe we’re all that weird.

Sex Lives Of Others: 5-26 August at 2:15pm, This Theatre at The Pleasance Courtyard

Submitted by Ricky Brown