Despite coming from across the water, Kingdom Theatre Company return to the Fringe with another dance themed production set in Leith. This time Scottish dancing rather than Irish, but the storyline has a similar romantic thread.
The story is set at a dance academy situated in Leith and its attempts at getting to a bigger audience through television or the Tattoo.
Lucy Duffy as Mary is the main character and very engaging with a really pleasant singing voice. Michael McLean as Andrew, the love interest, also has a good voice but maybe needs to be a bit more expansive when delivering his solo.
The Dance Academy Chief is highly credible and Jacqueline Hannan is so like a number of dance teachers who use to hire rooms in Community Centres that I was associated with. Sean Mitchell as TV Producer was also very effective.
The music is a combination of new and borrowed and the original songs by Willie Logan were very good. If he had managed a couple more then that would have been fantastic.
The show is light, but writer John Murray has a couple of crackers especially the ‘egg box’ gag.
Despite not being an aficionado of the medium, the dancers were excellent and even as a local, I was stirred by their performance to "Highland Cathedral" and "Scotland the Brave", in particular. The unlucky Sophy Dowie (Kate) who broke her foot in rehearsal may not have displayed her flashing feet, but her eyes flashed in her scenes while hobbling around the stage.
A short show that would have been even better if the story could be extended with a lit bit of dramatic tension building on the potential for animosity between Mary and Kate.
All in all, a show that brought some sunshine to a rainy day
Runs til 26 Aug (not 20), 7.35pm. Tickets £11 (£9)