EDINBURGH FRINGE: Supposing at the Traverse Theatre (Traverse 2)****(1 hr 20 mins)

Sally begins her story by saying that she fell down a hole in the street. And for a second, being an Edinburgh resident, I thought this was going to be a play about Edinburgh’s notorious broken pavements and pot holes!

But, of course, Zinnie Harris is above all that. She’s one of our greatest living playwrights and I doubt she would ever write about anything as unrefined. So for her to be presenting and directing a new play for the Fringe is indeed a coup for the Traverse.

And so, of course, Sally just doesn’t fall down any hole because, after the incident, she feels she’s been cursed, and for the next 80 minutes she tries to convince her husband she’s telling the truth while at the same time wondering if it really is true.

It’s a marathon run for Nicole Cooper, who is already known to Edinburgh audiences as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth: An Undoing. As she addresses the audience about her fears, her doubts and her conversations with an unseen Greek Chorus, she is totally captivating, while Richard Conlon is equally convincing as her husband, who wavers between belief and disbelief and the love he has for his wife.

Not an easy watch but worth it for both performances and the language they speak.

Image: Mihaela Bodlovic

Supposing is at the Traverse Theatre (Traverse 2) until Aug 30 at various times