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	Zoo (venue website) Theatre 3-18 Aug, 12:00pm-12:50pm Reviewed by Lynne Morris
Recommended for age 12+ only.  Free and unticketed. No pre-booking required.

In what must be a direct reference to the Tom Waits song What’s He Building?, Student Theatre at Glasgow (STaG) has brought to Edinburgh the wonderful What’s He Building in There? Echoing the sentiment of the song, the chillingly comic tale – written and directed by Edinburgh-born Dominic Di Rollo – centres around one man’s workshop, the interruptions of his wife, his ‘helpful’ neighbours, societal expectations, and the mutterings his own unconscious. Oh yes, and the fact that he appears to be in love with a chair.

Simple and effective set design, alongside the successfully sparing use of costume changes and bizarre make-up, mean this piece shifts with ease between the scenarios, locations and truly surreal characters which make up the tale. The story’s highs and lows are supported by lighting changes, and there’s an enchanting improvised musical score created live on stage, by a hunched-over guitarist tucked to the side surrounded by loop pedals and the like.

You can expect some decidedly entertaining dialogue, as clowning throws the tale spiralling off balance. The highlight of the hour lies in a salacious interview scene, as the Friend and his professional ‘world on fourteen floors’ invade the Carpenter’s unassuming existence. Richard Cullen and Jock Maitland put in expressive and energetic performances here, as a spotlight centres Sam Gregson’s Carpenter and his world is pieced by voices and thoughts from the darkness. Cullen is truly grotesque and works well with a wonderful, thought-provoking part of the script.

As the show’s run draws to a close this week, I hope this student group get the audience numbers they deserve. It’s an innovative piece of work and the team have worked well to do justice to Di Rollo’s writing. It is pointed out early on that “It isn’t good to be noticed” – yet the resounding feeling at the end of the piece is that in this world, it is simply impossible to escape every gaze. There is always somebody watching. Orwellian and wonderful, What's He Building in There? and the Waits song end in terrific proximity:

What's he building in there?

We have a right to know.