Cul-de-sac **

Billed as a brilliant spin of the Stepford Wives, Cul-de-sac is an exploration of what happens when neighbours get too close. The new arrival in one of the houses is greeted by his neighbour who tells him what's what and welcomes him into the cul-de-sac. As the play evolves, you find out more about the characters in the play and also the peripheral characters who are not represented with actors but form part of the story line.

Whilst the acting of the play was generally good and there were some funny moments, it was also a little weird and I have to confess I didn't really get it. I'm not ashamed to say that because I don't think many other people in the audience got it either, judging by the puzzled looks and the general shrugging of shoulders that started as soon as the actors left the stage.

There were constant references to the scary people who live outside the cul-de-sac, the hoodies and "the Muslims" who were a threat to the residents, and whilst it's quite obvious that the intention was to paint the residents as paranoid Daily Mail reading types, bigoted characters tend to be shown up at the end of the play and this didn't really happen.

All in all, the failure of this play to shine is down to the poorly written script, which did not give the actors the scope to really show off the comic prowess they claim to have on the flyer.

Show information:

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/cul-de-sac