A superannuated showbiz gent now agonisingly adrift from reality, Steve Delaney's creation is so clenched and desperate you either laugh or get a headache. This year, Count Arthur Strong is reading from his dictionaries - or should that be diaries? They're called Through It All I've Always Laughed, and are only available from the butcher's shop on Whitfield Street, Doncaster.
Autobiography isn't as strong a theme as that of the Count's past two Edinburgh offerings: Egyptology and the Bible. The joke was that he kept digressing into stories from his own life. Now the digression is the show. But he still can't stick to the point, nor can his book, which accidentally intersperses pages from a novel the Count wrote, called Don't Jump Out of the Window, Lady.
The mean spirit behind his strenuous civility is still drolly in evidence. A reading from Pepys degenerates into a jealous attack on the diarist's poor spelling.
The climactic set-piece isn't as inspired as previous offerings, but it's just as wince-inducing. You have to admire Delaney's intensity.
· Until August 29. Box office: 08707 557 705.
