The trio of actors are in their pyjamas, the audience are huddled under blankets and holding mugs of cocoa. There is only room for 10 of us in the 5065 Lift, which is, yes, a lift in the Pleasance courtyard. But we are all ready for our bedtime stories. What fun they are: vicious little fairy tales, ingenious mini sagas and uplifting yarns of love and death and sex and death, each with a title that corresponds to the word on our cocoa mugs.
Mine reads "heartbreaker" and the tale that follows offers a neat variation on Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf in the dark woods. Another story called Horrible has us diving under the sheet to hear a tale by torchlight; a third details the resentment of a dead marriage, another tells of angels and the elevation of souls.
It's a great, very simple idea that cleverly utilises the intimacy of the venue and which is neatly and charmingly executed by the young performers. The 9.20pm starting time may make it a little early for a bedtime story, but it offers a quiet hiatus in a busy festival and also demonstrates that there is real dramatic power in the simplest storytelling.
· Until August 30. Box office: 0131-556 6550.
