Wondrous Flitting

Mark Thomson
Royal Lyceum Theatre
Traverse 2

The Royal Lyceum has moved just around the corner to present a studio-sized production at the Traverse.

Wondrous Flitting gets off to a hilarious start, as tubby, unemployed Sam played by Grant O'Rourke, waits for some dry ice to float past the audience before launching into a stream of expletives.

This seems absolutely justified when we realize that his untidy living room has been riven in two by a flying wall and, even better, this has apparently come from the Holy House of Loretto, reputedly the home of the Virgin Mary.

Unfortunately, the play does not then seem to have any direction. For the next 90 minutes, we follow dull Sam through a series of situations that are presumably meant to reflect Scottish city living and generate some laughs along the way.

The novelty of the opening fails to return during a stream of meetings with, inter alia, Sam's wheelchair-bound Granddad, a couple of 11-year-old hooligans, junkies, a businesswoman and a church cleaner, as well as various offstage voices, some of which might just be heavenly.

Every other part is played by either Molly Innes or Liam Brennan, who each reveal themselves to be talented character actors.

Reviewer: Philip Fisher

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