My Romantic History Review

My Romantic History

Despite the justifiable aversion many of us hold to anything which contains the two words ‘Romantic’ and ‘Comedy’, ‘My Romantic History’ is a great piece of theatre with pace, intelligence and more humour in it than most stand-up comedies. 

Both Iain Robertson as Tom and Alison O’Donnell as Amy are completely believable as the two young professionals from Glasgow. Jackson’s script also includes plenty of references to the culture of west coast Scotland; this may not be to everyone’s taste, but the show makes full use of the ability of Glaswegians (think of Billy Connolly or the ‘Thick of It’) to swear and make it almost sound poetic. 

Both characters remain nostalgic about their childhood loves, and cynical about more recent romantic encounters. It’s in this sense of despair and emotional tumult that Amy and Tom stumble into a relationship with each other. This has all the communication issues, petty dilemmas and casual indifference of the modern love story. Jackson’s script also contains the essence of the mundane details, tensions and quirks of the modern work space; the grating chirpiness, passive aggressive slights and bubbling tensions.    

Safely one of the best bits of theatre available at the Fringe, and a good competitor for one of the funniest shows.