REVIEW: My Real Life, Assembly Hall, Edinburgh Fringe ✭✭✭✭

Don Wycherley in My Real Life My Real Life

Assembly Hall, Edinburgh Fringe

Four stars

Struggling with MS, Noel O’Brien is dying. Speaking into a tape recorder, he tells his best friend about his last requests and, bit by bit, looks back at the greatest regret of his life. But, while it is impossible not to be moved, Eoin Colfer’s sharply written one-man play My Real Life is also filled with joy and laughter.

In a mesmerising performance by Don Wycherley, Noel is a born storyteller who has clearly held audiences in rapt attention down the pub on many an occasion. Born and bred in Wexford, he fondly recalls friends and funny incidents from his childhood and how he later came to meet the love of his life, Rose. Only as he faces the prospect of death in his 40s can he face up to a silly but devastating mistake that, in an instant, changed the course of his life and his happiness.

Filled with colourful detail and the dramas of everyday life, the play is often funny despite an undercurrent of sadness that runs throughout.  Directed by Ben Barnes, it weaves a spell that keeps you gripped throughout despite it being 90 minutes of Noel simply sat in an armchair speaking into a tape recorder. It has an aching poignancy and shows us how easy it can be to lose hold of the best things in your life without realising until years later.

Running to August 27, 2017

MY REAL LIFE AT EDINBURGH FRINGE

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