Thick Skin and Harry out now

You've seen the plays now read them, oh you haven't seen them yet? #harrytheplay is on 12:20 - 1:20 in the belly dancer @followthecow Cowgate while Thick Skin has one performance on Saturday 12th August in the Summerhall round @ 10pm.

Harry has changed since I last saw the Poor Michelle team's outstanding performance @kingsheadtheatre and it's even sharper and faster. The props have developed and generally the show has got slicker. There was always an abundance of light and shade in the performance and one year on they've worked at it and there's even more. Caitlin has reworked the script and the snappier laughs have increased, the additional anecdotes are absolutely hysterical and the story works for all generations.

Is it just for the kids or is it one for the family I hear you ask? A "family" must watch, like a football match there should be adult and student gates. Whether father and daughter, mother and son, grandmother and granddaughter etc these moments are worth savouring together, although the crowd of 24 year olds in front of us clearly shared the young ones flat experience as Caitlin and Sophie rattled out the lines from the comedic Gatling gun. A Kalashnikov would have trouble keeping up with them as they finish off each other's sentences with enthusiasm and timing.

So often plays involving teenage angst omit the fun. Harry is full of fun, in fact, so fast and furious is the fun we're allowed to forget our angst and remember the best bits of our youth, regardless of age. The fun and laughter engaged the opening show's crowd on Thursday and when you laugh with the actors you're often never far away from laughing at yourself. Whether you're 20 or 80 the jokes and banter are clearly as fresh as yesterday in your mind. There's a new set of humorous by products from the social media age and the characters are all over it. Halcyon days for some but there's pathos on the way. A great watch and now I know who Harry Styles is.

Vinnybee



Ed comments .....In his day I'm sure Harry would never have made Deadbeat's front cover(!) But then can I say there were no jokes about ET having 2p to make a phone call home - yes 35 years since Deadbeat was first published in August 1982 here's a story worth seeing and reading. My search is over!

Jose Archer