Mr Boy: The Beauty Contest for Boys, Assembly George Square Studios.

Welcome to Mr Boy: the Beauty Contest for Boys. Our host introduces us to the six contenders for this year’s title, and at the end, you, the audience, will crown the winner – or at least, give him a sash. A clever framework for what is essentially a character comedy show, it nicely ridicules the outdated concept of beauty contests and offers some subtle – and not so subtle – critiques of toxic masculinity, suggesting a rather drastic, but nevertheless effective, solution to stopping men from doing harmful things in the world. Max Prentice gives a great performance as all the contenders and the host, with some smartly observed characterisations. The writing is perhaps a little patchy; at its best, it’s extremely funny, but there are a couple of scenes that don’t really get off the ground. However, it’s a super confident and engaging performance, and I’m sure Max Prentice will have something even funnier and more biting up his sleeve in the future – definitely One To Watch. 3 stars.

Stanislavski Can’t Save me from the Apocalyse, Greenside @ George Street.

Stanislavski Can’t Save Me from the Apocalypse is one of those titles that demands that you pay it attention! Living Room Productions’ play takes place at a summer camp in Maine for theatrical kidz (with a z) and is staged in reverse chronology so that the first scene is the final element of the story, and the last scene is the first. Unfortunately, somehow whilst they’re all at camp, they start going down sick and it’s pretty obvious that at the end of the day nobody’s getting out of this thing alive. It’s a promising premise and a good opportunity to show deteriorating relationships under pressure – let’s face it, the threat of apocalypse is about as tough as it gets. The play starts well but quickly goes nowhere, and the voices of most of the performers are too loud for the smallish acting space, resulting in (I’m sorry to say) a shouty mess. Some good performances and a couple of amusing scenes but, overall, this just doesn’t work. 2 stars.

Clive, Assembly Rooms.

Imprisoned in his apartment for one, all decorated in antiseptic white except for a green cactus named Clive, Thomas is grateful to work from home in a job he enjoys. Sure, he misses the daily contact with his Mitchell Taylor colleagues, like Ollie, and Sue from Finance; and no one ever expected to catch a glimpse of CEO Nigel. But new COO Naomi is different; a new broom sweeping clean. It’s down to her that everyone works from home now, in splendid isolation. She’s recently set Thomas an important task, late in the day, which has to be completed for the morning. Fortunately, he doesn’t mind working all night to get it done. But when Sue from Finance gets a public dressing-down from Naomi on a Zoom meeting, and Thomas stands up for her, maybe his days at Mitchell Taylor are numbered…. Michael Wynne’s insightful, inventive and surprisingly moving play gets a riveting performance from Paul Keating, smartly staged, using a range of cupboards to contain all the elements of Thomas’ life. It’s quite a sad story, and Thomas undergoes much hardship and loss before he can start to grasp the potentially green shoots of recovery – so there’s an optimistic ending! Directed by renowned director Lucy Bailey, Clive is an unexpected must-see. 5 stars.

BIRDS: Alex Hines and Sarah Stafford, Assembly George Square.

Alex Hines and Sarah Stafford play Beverley and Shayna, two Australian women who find themselves sharing the same beach, the same radio, even the same Eski. There’s been a weather warning, so they’ve closed the beach, but who cares about that? It means they get it all to themselves. As they get to know one another, they discover they have so much in common, like knowing the same local sales agent and being hooked on the Secret Sound competition on the trashy radio show. As the day progresses and it gets hotter and hotter, something’s gotta give; will our two specimens of prime Australian womanhood make it to the end? Part grotesque parody of Australian women and culture, part warning shot about the perils of climate change, BIRDS is a truly hilarious show that has you shaking with laughter and squirming with cringe, brilliantly written and staged by Alex Hines and Sarah Stafford. If Samuel Beckett had written Waiting for Sunscreen, this might be the result. Genius! 5 stars.

Angela Bra – Secret Diary of a Bingo Call Girl, Laughing Horse @ Bar 50.

Glossop’s Queen of the Dabber, Miss Angela Bra (rhymes with candelabra, you filthy beast) hosts an evening of jokes, hip-hop and bingo in Secret Diary of a Bingo Call Girl. Introducing us to the fine art of Drag Bingo, we sing along to songs about Buffy Butlers and Hen Dos, take part in some riotously funny games and, if you get a full house, compete to win a bottle of house wine (a small one, she’s not made of money). It’s a lively, laughter-filled and thoroughly good-natured show – the kind of show where you make friends with the people sitting next to you. Angela is a warm and funny comic creation, and you could tell that everyone in the audience had a terrific time. 4 stars.