Bomb man's tale is a damp squib

Edinburgh Fringe Festival

National Hero
Traverse

It's a rare Fringe production that can boast a lavish set; it's an even rarer one that also has two luminaries of the British theatre as its stars.

What a pity then, that this new play by Terry Mackay doesn't live up to the billing.

Timothy West and Nichola McAuliffe give their best, but, oh dear, what clunking lines they have to deliver. Gregor and Ann, a long-married couple, are waiting for their dinner guests to arrive. "I thought you were going to change?" Ann asks. "After 30 years I thought it was pointless," comes the coruscating reply. There's more, much more, along these lines.

West is a recently retired bomb-disposal expert, McAuliffe his bitter, neglected wife, holding on for the promise of a gong, which has been jeopardised by his recent outspoken comments about negotiating with terrorists.

Their guests are Alastair, a television producer making a film about Gregor's distinguished career, and his wife, Mima. It turns out that Gregor and Mima had a passionate affair when he was serving in Belfast and she was a student.

Then Gregor is called to a siege in a hospital where a bomb has been planted. Duty comes first, but Ann frets that the fame she so desires could be literally blown away. Alastair (Tom Cotcher), meanwhile, sees his chance of a big story and Mima (Carolyn Backhouse) realises she's still in love with the buttoned-up but brave old boy.

The cast rub along nicely under Guy Retallack's direction and there are some neat plot twists, not all of which are flagged a mile off.

But the parallels of fractured relationships and explosive devices are never subtle and ultimately Mackay offers no great insights into either marriage or terrorism.