Joseph Morpurgo: Highlander 70 review – a dork’s last day at school is one to remember

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh This one-man comic play, told at breakneck speed and featuring West Side Story-like dance-numbers, is highly entertaining It’s as if Joseph Morpurgo had never been away.

The Londoner made a splash on the fringe a decade ago with several high-concept comedy shows , of which thrift-shop source material and multimedia presentation were standout features.

After a nine-year absence, the same is true of Highlander 70, a one-man comic play built exclusively around an American high-school yearbook salvaged from half a century ago.

Drawing on that book’s text and (mainly) innocent black-and-white photographs of wholesome teens, Morpurgo cobbles together a breakneck tale of dorky David Moon’s last day of school.

He must navigate assembly, the big game, graduation – and then he’s free.

“What could possibly go wrong?” In Morpurgo’s telling, plenty, as our juvenile hero (face painted grey, the better to resemble his monochrome original) embarks on a quest to recover his missing diary, which contains mortifying evidence of a crush on schoolmate Beth.

Standing in his way, the school’s martinet principal, its bully Roscoe Peltz and his crew of unconvincing tough guys, and a dance-hall full of dangerously intoxicated adolescents.

At Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh , until 30 August All our Edinburgh festival reviews Continue reading...