The play opens with Alex, a tutor in creative writing, giving his last lecture of the term. He tells one of his ghost stories. It is no more than a bit scary and not even very original. The class is dismissed and Alex pulls out a bottle of whisky.
His reverie is broken by the arrival of a young journalist who has come to interview him about his new collection of horror tales - his first for twenty one years. The young man is diffident, hesitant, stumbling over his questions while Alex becomes more and more garrulous and expansive with the whisky.
We are intrigued by the encounter between the two men as the balance of power shifts back and forth from one to the other. Who is interviewing whom? Who controls the agenda? What is the role of the teasing Lucy and where is she now?
We are drawn into the mystery, but never quite on the edge of our seats nor completely gripped by an impending sense of doom. The feeling of menace is slow to build, not least because the narrative is interrupted by stories within stories and flashback. Even so, when the denouement arrives, it is genuinely shocking and provides the unexpected twist which is a requirement of the genre.
This is an entertaining piece that will keep audiences guessing right up to the end, but with so much outstanding new drama on the Fringe, this has a rather old-fashioned feel to it.
A lot of thought had clearly gone into the set design, but the piece might have worked better in the claustrophobic confines of a cellar venue.
August 3-29 (not 16, 23)
Tickets £14 (£13)