As Far As We Know review – strange solo goes full pelt down the mean streets

Summerhall, Edinburgh
With increasing speed, Sam Ward tells the story of a woman who finds holes in her garden – but is it just a shaggy dog story?

And there is a man sitting at a desk, welcoming us to the theatre and opening a folder. And the folder contains a sheaf of paper that the man proceeds to read. And the more the man reads, the faster he goes. And the man hits such a speed we realise why he did not learn this script: it would be too prodigious a feat of memory.

And as if to emphasise the pace, the man is soon accompanied by a percussive score by Carmel Smickersgill, which has a jazz freedom as well as a sense of urgency and is rather good. And as the story rattles out, so Han Sayles’s lighting design closes in on the man, who is the writer Sam Ward in this solo show by his company YESYESNONO and he seems to be going faster still.

At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 31 August

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