2015FABLE_9SJ is a physics teacher with a weak heart and a whole load of childhood dreams.  She’s been  ground down by her job and is looking for a change from her pedestrian, everyday life. So what she decides to do about this is travel all the way to the very rural west coast of Scotland, and meet this bloke she found on UniformDating.com. Oh yeah, we’ve all done that?

Anyway, the guy in question – Blair – turns out to be a tree surgeon by day and a poet by night: an eccentric mix of a character, and unfortunately the performer does nothing to make him more believable. Both J and Blair are looking for something else from life – something above the mundane every day.

Fable is made up of a mixture of spoken word, dialogue and songs. In essence, it’s a tale about going out of your comfort zone, taking risks and rising above the flow of a boring, normal life. There are some nice thoughts and nice lines in this piece, the music is great and both actors have enchanting voices. However, ultimately, the mixture of spoken word and dialogue is one that never quite fits together, and just feels stilted.

The performances are by no means terrible, but could be so much better. The moments of dialogue particularly are poorly performed, and so the characters feel like little more than words on a page. Ultimately, Fable feels like a very thin plot interwoven with preachy spoken word. In short, it’s the worst of both worlds.

Fable is playing at Summerhall (Venue 26) ​from 19-23 and 25-30 August as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For more information, visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.