Edinburgh Fringe Review: Photon StarBlaster and the Suicidal Spaceship
Roman Eagle Lodge, Johnson Terrace ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bite-size theatre has long been an exciting staple of the Edinburgh Fringe and Photon StarBlaster and the Suicidal Spaceship continues this tradition with captivating performances and a deeply thoughtful, yet rollicking script by John McEwan-Whyte.
Despite a running time of just 45 minutes, it’s a piece that makes a distinct impression that lingers long after the young space cadet has left the stage.
Renegade galactic agent Photon StarBlaster is on a solo mission when his spaceship malfunctions and sets a course to self-destruct in the nearest black hole.
As StarBlaster is thrown into his most dangerous journey yet, so begins a beautifully constructed story of love and childhood loss told through that rarest of theatre genres, science fiction.
A fast-paced two-hander exploring the impact a suicide has on those left behind, it finds McEwan-Whyte playing the eponymous space hero alongside Debi Pirie as his cantankerous ‘spaceship-in-human-form’, Space Junk.
Both share an easy chemistry as they switch between characters, fantasy and reality mingling as the story unfolds.
Based on his own childhood experiences, McEwan-Whyte brings a rawness to the anger, confusion and denial of grief in a performance that is heart-achingly sad in parts and boldly gung-ho in others.
Pirie, meanwhile, proves the perfect foil, as the calming of sassy voice of reason for him to play against.
Together they are Bonnie and Braw, a Scottish company ‘all about producing noisy, inspiring, and enlightening stories’. Photon StarBlaster and the Suicidal Spaceship ticks all those boxes and more and fittingly finds them reaching for the stars.
Until August 27, 1.45pm
Credit: Líam Rudden Media