Good old days with a twist

Nuts CocoNuts @ the Drill Hall

Edinburgh Fringe Festival: There were times during Nuts CocoNuts when I felt I was in some parallel universe. I had arrived early, but was then hurried into the huge Drill Hall - making its debut as an International Festival venue - by theatre staff accusing me of being a latecomer.

Discombobulated (I'm anal about timekeeping), I was unable to read the programme before watching the evening's entertainment, which had already begun.

What happens on stage I can only describe as The Good Old Days meets Sunday Night at the Palladium, without a hint of postmodern irony. It's presented by the Variety Theatre Company of Gibraltar, whose aim, they say, is to preserve the kind of touring variety you thought was long dead, and the show stars luminaries of the genre including diva Diana Diamond and Scots comic Sandy Kay.

Brilliant renditions of music-hall songs and Moulin Rouge dance numbers are interspersed with less assured comedy; it's song, dance and sequins a-gogo and, as one of the gaudily costumed troupers says: "It's not a show without feathers." There are indeed lots of them.

Then you realise that this springs from the wonderfully twisted, creative mind of Catalan director Jordi Mil·n (who had a huge success here with Cegada d'Amour in 1997) and things start to become clearer. Once you accept that nothing is what it appears to be, then slowly it begins to make sense.

There is a fantastic coup de theatre. What follows is a hysterically funny and life-affirming story about actors, their traditions and superstitions, with plenty of backstage bitching and luvvieness thrown in for good measure. If you love theatre, this is a must-see.

Note: arrive early and read the programme later.