How Not to Fund a Honeymoon, The Space Triplex.Gwendoline and Charlotte are a bit short for cash, and there’s a honeymoon in the Maldives to pay for. However, Gwen’s Aunt Robyn is on holiday in Corfu, and Charlotte knows exactly where she keeps her safe in the kitchen. What’s a little breaking and entering between relatives? How Not to Fund a Honeymoon starts so promisingly with two cracking scenes showing the ghastly uncaring Robyn and the delightfully inept wannabe thieves – and it’s a fun concept and it’s an ingenious plot. However, there’s a cringeworthy questioning scene including an incompetent comedy PC Plod straight out of the pages of Enid Blyton, and the final scene is ruined by a lot of shouting. A shame, because this is a good idea that gets let down by the script. 2 stars.

A Small Town Northern Tale, Underbelly Cowgate.Young David was happy in his early years, brought up as an inner-city kid with a loving mum and grandfather, and even a brother he got on with – unfortunately, his father was not so loving, but everyone has their cross to bear. But when David’s mother decides enough is enough, they move out to a small northern town, where David – as a mixed-race kid, the only one in the district – finds it hard to fit in. But he does have one friend, Lee, and together they become teenagers and occasionally David has doors of opportunity open up, only to have them slammed in his face again. This remarkable tale of David’s formative years – inspired by real life events – is told with energy and passion by Nathan Jonathan, who brilliantly expresses all that teenage goofiness, uncertainty and awkwardness, as he grows into a young man who can stand on his own two feet and fight his own battles. Engrossing from the very start, and full of atmosphere and incident, Nathan Jonathan is a fantastic storyteller and this is a riveting hour to which everyone can relate. 4 stars.

Alright Sunshine, Pleasance Dome.It’s one thing to take pride in your work; it’s another thing to take it to extremes. Nicky is a police officer patrolling The Meadows in Edinburgh – as she points out, it’s only a circus venue for us soft Fringey types, but for the other eleven months of the year it’s a busy, action-packed patch of land used by anyone and everyone. Any time of day or night she might be there, watching, waiting, trying to keep one step ahead of whatever criminality might be lurking. The Meadows are her patch; she lives to keep it safe, even if that’s to the detriment of her own family life. It’s so easy just to overstep the mark when you’re a police officer, as Molly Geddes’ superb performance in Isla Cowen’s constantly surprising play demonstrates. Beautiful writing – the descriptions of daily life on The Meadows are almost poetic in the way they conjure up the atmosphere – and terrific acting make this a tense and exciting drama. 4 stars.

Colours Run, Summerhall.Brothers Pongo and Pete support Hibernian; Pete loves to wear the scarf and hat, and as for Pongo, he likes to express his football interests in another way. In an examination of toxic masculinity that’s both disturbing and gut-wrenchingly unpleasant, Pongo bullies his brother – who clearly has some form of learning disability – and deprives him of freedom and choice. That abuse started when they were young – and goes further than either of them can dare express in words. When Pongo discovers that Pete has somehow managed to connect to the Internet, what retribution will he take? Two very good performances from Ruaraidh Murray as Pongo and Sean Langtree as Pete, but in a play that’s truly hard to watch; repetitive, and with a constant threat of violence just around the corner. There’s a quiz interlude that I think is meant to lighten the mood of the play but just comes across as irrelevant padding. As a play about an irredeemably bad man, it’s a bold subject for a dark comedy, and indeed it is not very funny. I admire the attempt to convey something different and they certainly conjure up a threat of menace, but personally I found it too unpleasant to enjoy. 2 stars.

The Sculpture, Just the Tonic at the Caves.Have you ever heard of Molly O’Day? I certainly hadn’t, but Northern Lights Theatre are here to plug your education gap with this surprisingly emotional musical play by Jack Hewitt about the Hollywood star of the 1920s and 30s who shot to fame at the age of 16 in the film The Patent Leather Kid, but who couldn’t keep her initial stardom because she wasn’t as slim as the movie industry and the hard-nosed journos demanded. The script emphasises how the criticism of her weight and the newspaper tittle-tattle affected her mentally. Engagingly performed by an ensemble of seven actors, including a terrific performance by Lucy Bytheway as Molly. Informative and thought-provoking, as well as entertaining. 3 stars.

Accordion Ryan’s Pop Bangers, Gilded Balloon @Appleton Tower.An hour in the company of Accordion Ryan is a musical treat quite unlike any other. Cheekily grinning from under his flowing locks, Ryan oomphs up the energy by getting his crowd singing and clapping along, sometimes to an accordion version of a pop classic, sometimes to his own compositions – which are either charming and wistful, or, more likely, comical and quirky. He makes you feel completely at ease, and – be warned – there is quite a bit of audience participation (always good natured) and you may well get wet! Come with an open mind, a warm heart and a voice in good tune and you’ll have a whale of a time! His Scottish medley is a particular highlight – no spoilers, but the Bay City Rollers played on the accordion? Genius! 5 stars.