IMPRESSIVELY, this is the 50th consecutive year in which local amateur company Edinburgh People's Theatre have performed at the Fringe. Their shows, judging by Stramash at the Store, aren't the kind which will see them walking off with big awards or
even exposed to a non-local audience, but they provide a proficient and enjoyable strain of am-dram.
The play is also quite agreeably concerned with local history, particularly the bygone days of Edinburgh city life. The setting is St Cuthbert's (Edinburgh's once-familiar "Bread Street store", now the Point Hotel), in October 1962.
A major plot point stems from King Olav V of Norway's state visit to Scotland in this month, while a minor one notes that it was also the month that the Beatles released their first single.
Irene Beaver's lengthy script is like a tartan-strewn, feature-length episode of Are You Being Served?, and it's steeped in nostalgia for the older generation.
There are possibly one too many gags whose punchline is a knowing dig at the city today, but most of the humour and characterisation is comfortingly homespun.
• Until tomorrow. Today 7:45pm
The full article contains 202 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
