Coffee

Caffeine fuelled flirting but little substance

Before engaging in conversation or flirtation we make a number of assumptions about people based on the way they look, act or dress. Perhaps this is unsurprising in such an image-conscious society, but it is these assumptions that form the basis of James Campbell’s new play.
While endlessly waiting in a generic coffee shop a business woman is joined by an antagonistic stranger who eventually offers to buy her some coffee, using a variety of seemingly inept chat-up lines along the way. Campbell’s intriguing set-up, however, fails to deliver as the promising opening fades into obscurity and this predominantly two-handed musing becomes more of a sketch than anything else. The few genuinely funny moments are too sporadic to improve this piece beyond mediocre Festival fare and each action is painfully drawn out, from the music-filled intro to the excruciatingly obvious punch line.

With opportunities to explore the built-in inhibitions of our image culture left to fester like an unfinished cappuccino, this could have been pushed so much further.

C Chambers St, 0845 260 1234, until 27 Aug (not 13), 8.15pm, £8.50–£10.50 (£7.50–£9.50).

More: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh Festivals, Fringe, Reviews (Theatre)

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