Murray Lachlan Young

Scots stanzas and saucy shanties

When only one person in his audience (a polite reviewer) applauds a less than blazing entrance, Murray Lachlan Young positions himself somewhere between crestfallen and carefree. It’s a decade since he was propelled into mini-celebrity status for just under quarter of an hour before he sloped off into obscurity, and the nation’s foremost verse-happy fop is happy to sip on his scotch and rip through some sweet poems quicker than it took the record company executives to tear up his lucrative contract.

Clearly not totally scalded by his torrid experiences back then, Young revamps his exquisite ‘Simply Everyone’s Taking Cocaine’ while endearing himself to the local populace with his own adaptations of Scots verse. Yet the odd mood which settles on the gig fails to budge and turns the silence at the end of several poems into a stare-out between the third row and the performer. Only when he draws us in to sing a shanty chorus about dogging does the crowd visibly and audibly relax and by the end of this whirlwind performance, his lone clapper is happily joined by the amused throng. (Brian Donaldson)

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 668 1633, until 27 Aug, 9pm, £9–£10 (£8–£9).

More: Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh Festivals, Fringe, Murray Lachlan Young, Poetry, Reviews (Comedy)

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