Thermodrama | Old Lab at Summerhall (Ed Fringe)

Self-improvement is everywhere we look, from eating healthier to cultivating the mindset that’ll put us on the path to success. Setting goals and smashing targets are so ingrained into us as the default that we’re often asked to map out the rest of our lives, visualising where we’ll be in ten years and what our perfect, refined and distilled forms look like. How could anything that provides us with such clear direction and concrete steps to achieve that be anything but good for us?

Thermodrama explores all this and more in this skewering and smart pressure cooker of a play, showing the good, the bad and the shocking effects across its 4 players. Written by Coco Cottam and directed by Lydia Free, co-founders of Lovelock Productions, it turns the temperature (literally and metaphorically) up to 11 and grills its actors, all of whom brilliantly bring the heat and rise to the occasion. The drama is rich but never over the top, every dangerous step and sudden twist building on top of the last to a stunning climax and an epilogue that feels like a bucket of ice.

The physicality of the acting and the direction to keep it inline is brilliantly done, from the intense workouts to movements of the characters as they move in and around the limited space. The show is able to cover a lot of ground in its runtime, dipping into discussions on masculinity and sisterhood while leaving plenty of room for slightly absurd comedy and characters to show themselves. The players all feel like rounded characters rather than just blank slates on which to prove points, a testament to both the writing and the actors.

Thermodrama rises to meet its marks on all fronts, both as a stunning piece of drama and a searing rebuke of the effects of focusing on self-improvement to the exclusion of all else.

Thermodrama plays at 22:30 at Old Lab at Summerhall - tickets and more information can be found here.

★★★★★ (5*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review