HOW did Medusa's snakes feel about being attached to her decapitated head? I admit that this is something I've never considered, but it's the concept behind Lauren Elizabeth Pope's imaginative, if rather bizarre, new play.
Two of these snakes are
Monstrous (Jamie Gordon), a pompous cultural know-it-all, and Sinclair (Sam Cunningham-Siggs), his bumbling sidekick. When we meet them they are still stuck to Medusa's recently severed head, represented by a large piece of snake-covered set that takes four people to manoeuvre into the venue.
Both snakes are naturally distraught that their "lady" has been slaughtered and vow to seek revenge on her callous killer, who they eventually discover to be Perseus, as per the Greek legend.
While the piece does feel like an extended Monty Python sketch at times, Gordon and Cunningham-Siggs portray the snakes' friendship with a great deal of warmth and fun.
The humour could be sharper, but ideas of identity, heroism and timelessness emerge in a way that works surprisingly well.
Things become a bit confused when the writer introduces the possibility of time travel. It's also unclear how the snakes eventually manage to break free from Medusa's head. However, despite this, it's weirdly sad to see them go.
• Until 23 August. Today 12:05pm
The full article contains 229 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
