Maurice’s Jubilee is one of those surprising pieces that start off decently before becoming quietly wonderful. It’s a poignant reflection on impecunious ageing, as well as a terrifically sensitive meditation on the burdens of monarchy. Anyone with a tendency to take one glance at neat, chintzy sets and sneer would be very wrong.
Actress Nichola McAuliffe stars in her own three-hander, directed by Hannah Eidinow, as Katie, the cheerful palliative care nurse sent to look after the dying Maurice (Julian Glover), as well as his in-denial wife Helena (Sheila Reid). He’s determined to make it to his 90th birthday the day before the Diamond Jubilee, as the Queen will be coming to tea. It’s an appointment of 60 years’ standing, after jeweller Maurice handled the Crown Jewels before the Coronation.
Whether this is fact or the sickly fiction of Maurice’s tumour-addled brain is handled deftly by McAuliffe, who takes us with conviction through a lovely account of the evening he purportedly spent with Her Majesty. Glover suggests the benign distraction of a man whose nostalgia has overshadowed a family and a lifetime, and Reid eloquently laments her impossible rival. Barring slight confusion over dates, it’s a triumph.
Until August 27 (0131 556 6550, pleasance.co.uk)
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