Greenside @ Infirmary Street
Aug 25-26 (23:10)

Script:  Stagecraft:  Performance: 

Leaf is essentially a patchwork quilt of capers, japes & nonsense under which we audience members may snuggle & giggle warmly for an hour. As we are swept from the ‘infamous moors of Berlin’ to the period drama of Georgian England, we are given the loosest pretensions of a story revolving about the lovequest of chess-loving chemical engineer Mark. The most remarkable thing about watching Leaf, in fact, is how its actors – led by commander-in-chief Helen Potter – can keep a straight face during the show. In a recent interview with The Mumble, Helen described her creation as;

larger than life comedy that is both entirely based on the truth, and an absolute load of fictitious nonsense. As quintessentially British as the queen eating her roast dinner off a Boris bike seat (perish the thought!)… Leaf is a show that combines the emotional rollercoaster of a socially awkward chemical engineer, with the wild chaos of a sketch-show.

A sketchy play in both senses of the word, Leaf is still a fascinating – & funny – watch. A lot of thought has gone into the stagecraft of Leaf; its visually exciting, while the voice-overs work superbly. This play is comedy bombast at its most fluent & foppish best. Some moments are freshly hilarious, while others are just dodgy pun-making, but with the latter being delivered with such overenthusiastic confidence that these turn out to be kinda funny n’all. Leaf also gets a bit taps-aff towards the end, & with a lung-bursting rendition of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ to finish, this wonderful late-night watch was a perfect way to finish my Fringe for 2017.

Reviewer : Damo