Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016 REVIEW. Spiders By Night***

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53) 20:25 Aug 5-6, 8-13 50 minutes.

Suitability: 12+ (Guideline) – Coffee House Theatre Company and Stepping Out Theatre.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/spiders-by-night-a-double-bill-of-exciting-new-monologues

Promising ‘a double bill of strange of swift and strange scuttlings,’ Stepping Out Theatre and Coffee House Theatre work exclusively on mental health issues. Tonight’s double bill of solo story telling explore obsession and revenge. Story One, Waiting For ISON, is a monologue from compulsive star-gazer, Simon, intent on tracking the approaching comet ISON as its icy trajectory leaves its signature trail across the heavens. His hypnotic obsession is exacerbated by his need for precise calculations and dense data. The night sky is his fixed compass – he gains little succour in our terrestrial maelstrom. The concerned neighbours consider him a touched celestial anorak.

Story Two – Insider.

Before us is black clad lady needing arm clasped crutches to assist her. Her Bristol accent is distinct. She somehow seems a partial spider metamorphosis with he thick padded chest attire. Her tale is intense, obsessive, compulsive and disturbing. ‘My fear of being squashed keeps me on the ceiling.’ Her contained menace of revenge targets those whom she has perceived to have wrong her. The fundamental essence of simple story telling shines out with these two short performances.

After the hurly-burley of the frantic pace of The Fringe there is solace and reassurance with these compelling narratives. But from the corner of you eye you suspect they could reach into you psyche and grab you by the tentacles!