Immaculate

For Edinburgh University Theatre Company’s most recent offering, Anna Reid directs Immaculate by Oliver Lansley, a play which comically explores what it means to be faced with the prospect of giving birth to the Messiah in the modern age. When Mia (Fiona Longmuir) finds herself heavily pregnant, she is more than a little confused. As she tells her best friend Rebecca (Ashley Stewart), she hasn’t slept with anyone since she broke up with her ex Michael (Jonathan Langley) well over nine months ago . But when the angel Gabriel shows up on her doorstep claiming that her child is the second coming of Christ, things start to make a little more sense. That is until Lucifer (Joe McArdle) and Gary (Calum Martin) also appear, both claiming that they are the father as well. Under Reid’s direction, this production is at times absolutely hysterical. The jokes and entrances are impeccably timed and the individual character monologues, in particular Lucifer's rant about how difficult it is to be the devil and having nobody listen to his side of the story are pure comedy gold. It’s the little things that really make the humour in this production so strong; the characters casually eating chocolate hob-nobs whilst not so slyly listening in to others conversations, the way the Greek style chorus moves, and finally the deadpan delivery from McArdle’s Lucifer about not seeing anything wrong with Gary Goldman when he is quite clearly (in the words of Mia) 'a dick!'. The only thing that seems confusing however is Stewart's monologue, hers is the only one not spoken live and is instead a recording played over an echoey PA system which somewhat ruins the effect. Although nobody is credited with design, the costuming of the piece is spot on and goes a long way to making the characters more relatable. Putting Gabriel in a full suit but having him wear sandals with it and dressing Michael like a teenager with a hoody shows just how much thought has gone into making the costume just right for each individual character. It is a shame that this was only a one off performance.