RATING: 4/5
WRITTEN by Lana Stone and directed by Bella Taylor, Fire Signs is the Edinburgh University Theatre Company’s (EUTC) contribution to this year’s fringe festival.
The Festival of New Theatre sellout show follows the story of Bobby (Clara Wessely) and Emma (Chisha Chanda) as they fumble their way through their second year of university.
Throughout the play the two have their friendship tested by their respective love lives in the shape of new boyfriends and freshers’ history.
Bobby falls in love with a trust fund Tory, Jules (Otis Kelly), a poet who seems perfect at first but turns out to be not quite ‘all that’.
Jules leaves Bobby for months in a trip to Canada, ultimately dooming their relationship to become, as their star signs suggested, a short-lived one.
Maybe there is some truth to astrology as much as their PhD friend Toby (Ben Pierson) wants to deny it.
Emma deals with abysmal Tinder dates and explores her crush for Toby, who is in an on-and-off relationship with girlfriend Daisy (Tess Bailie).
Incidentally Emma ends up sleeping with Toby and breaking the two up for good.
All this mixed in with some great comedic moments and characters, often played by Ted Ackery, the show is a delight.
As a great reflection of student life in Edinburgh – filled with classic and accurate student dilemmas – it’s well worth the watch.
The six-fold cast manage to convincingly pull of a number of different roles between them, with each seemingly adding more to the story than the last.
Ted Ackery deserves particular recognition for his plethora of comedic and convincing stereotypes such as crypto bro Joe, Derek the vape shop guy and the all-too-stressed yoga instructor.
With a theme of astrology and young love running clearly throughout, the show is a real credit to the talent within the EUTC.
Attend a showing for yourself to have your funny bone tickled and find out if Emma and Bobby’s friendship is truly written in the stars.
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