Christopher Biggins was scheduled to star in this one-man show but it is Tim Healey who takes the role of Harold, the elderly school panto dame who bemoans the fact that the rich history of the pantomime is being replaced by pop songs and upstarts from Big Brother.
Healey is very good capturing both the waspishness and sadness of a man who has become obsolete as he prepares in his dressing room to give his Widow Twanky one last time.
Philip Meeks' script neatly entwines the professional with the personal as Harold recounts his early life and discovery of the pleasures and dangers of cottaging in Newcastle and his contempt for his celebrity co-star.
Meeks often has a brilliant turn of phrase and captures human foibles, as when Harold's mother discovers that her son has been cautioned for cottaging and declares: "You father would be ashamed, if I knew who he was."
The show doesn't quite have the emotionally satisfying arc that it needs and it is rather derailed by an entertaining but silly twist in the tale. We already knew that Healy could act and this is very strong evidence that Meeks can really write.
· Until August 28. Box office: 0131 668 1633
