WRITTEN by two of Scotland’s most acclaimed writers, Gary McNair and Kieran Hurley, Square Go embodies the best of their work; it is accessible, highly entertaining and has a resonance far wider than its immediate setting.
For McNair, that often means Scotland’s former mining towns, and while much of the audience here, given their accents, may not be familiar with words such as “hauners” – as in help or back-up – it could not matter less. Directed by fellow Fringe First winner Finn Den Hertog, Gavin Wright and Scott Fletcher’s (River City) performances as Stevie and Max, as 13-year-old boys preparing for a fight, earns them a standing ovation.
Staged perfectly in Summerhall’s Roundabout Theatre, the audience is drawn into the mix of aggression, fantasy and showmanship.
Giving Max hauners in his square go with school hardcase Danny Guthrie, Wright’s Stevie is a riot, bringing the same gangly ineptitude as he did to Spud in Gareth Nicholls’s recent revival of Trainspotting. Max takes his cues from Macho Man Randy Savage, a wrestler he studies from the VHS tapes his dad gave him.
Set to music from Frightened Rabbit, Square Go is fun and raucous, but also a study in how fear informs the values boys are often pressured into living by.
Until Aug 26 (not 7, 14, 21), Summerhall, 8.20pm (1hr), £15, £10 concs. Tel: 0131 560 1581. Tickets: bit.ly/SquareGo18 www.painesplough.com #squarego
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