In the cocktail bar of a modern city centre hotel, a middle-aged man, a plumber, is quietly enjoying an after work drink when he is confronted by a young girl, a college drop out now working on Tesco checkouts. She is not a hooker, but she offers him anything he wants. He phones his wife and he lies, but exactly what does he want? The man’s deception triggers a chain of events involving himself (played by Benny Young), his wife (Cara Kelly), the girl (Amiera Darwish) and a male escort (Owen Whitelaw), which leads the four to reappraise the nature of their relationships and how they are faithful or unfaithful to their partners and to themselves. Owen McCafferty’s new play is Pinteresque in structure and full of plain, direct dialogue that probes deep into each of the characters. There is also a fair amount of self-deprecatory humour as the characters come to terms with the absurdities of love and sex. Confidently directed by Rachel O’Riordan, this play is likely to be seen as one of the best pieces of new writing on the 2014 Edinburgh fringe.
Performance date: 13 August 2014
The Beast's Pen 