Dancing Shoes at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh*****

The hour-long plays which are part of A Play, A Pie and a Pint can often be overlooked, just because they have equal billing with a  lunchtime pie and a pint! I’m as guilty as the next person for not putting them in my diary, and then I’m kicking myself because I find I’ve missed standout productions, with top actors, some of them household names.

Dancing Shoes, therefore, must be something special to be given a long (by comparison) run in the evenings in the Traverse’s main theatre. And it is…something special.

The play revolves around three men who form a friendship at a support meeting for recovering addicts. They are here to tell their story, or rather, Donny’s story, for Donny, an alcoholic in his sixties, becomes an overnight sensation when his dance moves go viral.

Stephen Christopher and Graeme Smith’s writing has us laughing out loud from the very first line, not something you’d expect given the play’s subject matter. Donny is sadly lacking in confidence. It takes him weeks to walk through the door of the meeting and stay there. Craig, on the other hand, is a seasoned attender of three weeks, eager to show young influencer Jay the ropes.

The two younger men have that swagger today’s youth often have but under Brian Logan’s direction Lee Harris as Craig and Craig McLean as Jay turn out to be lovable rogues who support Donny’s love of dancing, not always with the right result, and their quick fire delivery and comic timing have us laughing till our faces ache. Stephen Docherty’s sensitive portrayal of Donny, with his lack of confidence and childlike innocence, does occasionally pull at the heartstrings, but all in all, this is a laugh a minute celebration of friendship and just the thing to cheer you up on a cold winter’s night.

Image: Laurence Winram

Dancing Shoes is at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh until Dec 20.

Box Office: 0131 228 1404

traverse.co.uk