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Game of Crones

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Three stars

 

Heroines - or protagonists as Abigail Dooley and Emma Edwards would have it - don’t always wear capes in the duo’s mythological rummage through what it means to be a woman of a certain age. Sometimes they get to wear beige Marks & Spencer’s long length cardigans, better known here as the Cloak of Invisibility. As fashion tips go, such apparel may not be what every woman wants, but they do come in handy sometimes.  

 

Dooley and Edwards arrive on stage from behind a set of ancient stones that appear to be made of cotton wool wearing costumes seemingly leftover from a low budget 1970s kids sword and sorcery serial. A three headed Hydra sees visages of Vivienne Westwood, Dolly Parton and Kathy Burke gift them an all purpose tongue sharpener for answering back with style, and a pair of glasses for seeing straight. 

 

Kitted out with such luxurious accessories, the pair embark on a gloriously hand knitted comic quest that leads the audience through the Sea of Sorries and the Fields of Forgetfulness, stopping off at Vanity Fair, where a couple of spivs called Nip and Tuck try to flog off the beauty myth.

 

There are plenty more adventures for Dooley and Edwards’ msfits in this show for their A&E Comedy outfit as they find some kind of mid life emancipation through slapstick, song and a potty mouthed call to arms. In what is effectively an old school feminist cabaret, all this is passed down the generations with a healthily irreverent two fingers to expectations and bags full of acquired attitude that makes a serious point without wanting to get too self help book about it. Growing old disgracefully has rarely looked so triumphantly silly. 


The Herald, April 6th 2026

 

Ends 

 

 

 

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