First Time Buyers

“This old house once knew his children…” and that much is true in this hilarious play by award-winning director Ash Pryce.

Comprised of a minimal cast (Oliver Giggins / Tamas Fazakas / Effie Summers and Nani Townshend to be precise) this one-hour play turned out to be one of the highlights of this year’s Edinburgh Free Fringe Festival!
Enter Simon and Craig, a young couple in love and well, both have decided to move into a cosy new home together. And why not! After all, buying a first home is destined to cement the bond between two lovers even further… Trouble is, the home they have in mind is not quite what it seems… a strange smell is hanging around and it’s not just the annoying damp. Indeed, ‘hanging around’ is the key word here as Simon and Craig are soon to find out!
The overtly enthusiastic estate agent puts on her charm big time to convince the lads that this is going to be their dream house, end of! Unfortunately she fails to mention the most important aspect: the previous owners refuse to leave the building and money won’t tempt them to exit it… you see, the previous owners are… dead!

With the help of a refreshingly quirky New Age medium (who just happens to be the couple’s neighbour) things might just take a turn for the better - or for the worse - depending on ones outlook. Whaddya know, our incredibly helpful medium has her own secret… a secret that Simon and Craig cannot guess until the surprise twist at the end. And a Happy End it is, just not in the house they had planned on buying!

Plenty of sharp and witty dialogue here and the actors were a treat to watch – shame the makeshift venue (which is so often the case at the Free Fringe) turned out to be noisy and thus put a serious damper on the experience. Those guys deserve better!
Should you ever get to see this very entertaining show, like, at the forthcoming Edinburgh Horror Festival for example, you too will chuckle be entertained and watch out for those Judy Finnigan jokes…

(Photo by Cerny Yaun)