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A Gambler’s Guide to Dying

Traverse Theatre

Four Stars 

 

The way Gary McNair was told it, when England beat West Germany in the final seconds of the 1966 World Cup Final, his granddad won a small fortune after betting on the result. This appears to have been much to the chagrin of his fellow drinkers in the spit and sawdust Gorbals boozer where he watched the game, but it seems to have been well worth the beating that resulted. 

 

More than three decades on, McNair’s granddad makes another bet that inspires similarly grand thinking in the telling, whether he wins it or not. Inbetween, McNair is at his granddad’s side, listening to stories as they grow into legend, until he starts telling his own. 

 

There is something heroic about McNair’s solo play, receiving its tenth anniversary outing in this revival of Gareth Nichols’ production at this year’s Fringe. As he paces around the clutter of an old-school living room set, McNair is not only telling his own shaggy dog story about the man who was clearly a major influence on how he turned out.  Over the play’s seventy minute duration, he is giving voice to the everyday experiences of his granddad’s generation that might otherwise risk being lost. 

 

The warmth and wit that shines through McNair’s performance may be charming, but there is a profound insight too in his relating of matters of life and death. He has honed over the last decade to become one of the cleverest and funniest solo dramatists to ever spin a yarn on a Scottish stage. The combination makes for a poignant labour of love that gets infinitely better with age.

 

The Herald, August 4th 2025

 

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