Holly Street
★★★★☆ Likeable
theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39): Sun 3 – Sat 23 Aug 2025 (odd dates only)
Review by Hugh Simpson
Holly Street – from Long Face Theatre and New Celts at theSpace on the Mile on odd dates throughout the Fringe – is unashamedly silly, but very funny and oddly sweet.
There is a meeting in the writers’ room of a soap opera named Holly Street that is just coming up to its 35th anniversary. Under the somewhat haphazard guidance of Arthur (Jonah Sorsbie), a disparate and rather ineffectual group of writers find that their increasingly left field ideas are having more impact on them than they might have imagined.
Xander Arron-Gonzalez (Stewart) in Holly Street. Pic: Long Face Theatre.
There is considerable comic energy in Lewis McLauchlan’s script, and the various characters are economically sketched in, staying just the right side of cliché to remain believable. The ‘family unit’ they make up may be something of a trope in such situations, but is done with considerable skill.
McLauchlan himself plays Ross, whose ideas about musical episodes or zombie attacks start the whole thing off. Ross is portrayed effectively as a rather insecure individual, and it is much to McLauchlan’s credit that he doesn’t (as many have done in this situation) give himself all of the funniest lines.
energy
Many of those lines go to Jed Bury, who plays the childlike Callum with a likeable energy. Xander Arron-Gonzalez gives the apparently confident Stewart a human side. Cameron Millar, meanwhile, gives the earnest Reece, protective of the programme, a credibility.
Jonah Sorsbie (Arthur), Jed Bury (Callum) and Cameron Millar (Reece) in Holly Street. Pic: Long Face Theatre.
However, the production is dominated to a certain extent by Sorsbie’s Arthur, a grotesque figure with echoes of Basil Fawlty or a more angular David Brent. This is a very fine comic performance, whose ridiculousness is all the more effective for the support of the other cast members.
The direction of Kate Stamoulis is inventive and considered. What could be a real problem – that most of the time the cast are sitting around a table in an unforgiving L-shaped room – is overcome cleverly. Peter Norris and Ioanna Leontiou’s music also adds an unexpected dimension.
It is all rather inconsequential, with the plot (and indeed the whole set-up) not able to withstand that much scrutiny. However, it is all done with such commitment and comic energy that it is impossible to dislike; indeed, its determination to entertain will please many.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval).
theSpace on the Mile (Space 2), 80 High St, EH1 1TH. (Venue 39).
Sunday 3 – Saturday 23 August 2025.
Odd dates only: 10.45 am.
Tickets and details: Book here on EdFringe.com.
Instagram: @longface.theatre
TikTok: @longfacetheatre
The cast of Holly Street. Pic: Long Face Theatre.
ENDS
