EDINBURGH 2019 - Review: APOLLO 11, Greenside @ Infirmary Street

Celebrating 50 years from Armstrong and Aldrin's small steps on to our lunar neighbour, Apollo 11 is a new play focusing on the responses to the moon landing of ordinary people.

The script by David McCabe, who also directs, is set on the night of the Eagle's landing and intercuts between scenes of a young couple, working-class siblings, the sci-fi obsessed children of a local police officer, and a writer and his protégé worrying that science fact will overtake the fiction that has brought them success.

On the whole, Apollo 11 gives the impression of a promising first draft that needed some further development to realise its potential. Exploring a momentous event through the eyes of ordinary people is an ideal opportunity to humanise something that can now be considered historical.

However, with so many short scenes following the linking narratives, the pace needed to be quicker, and some awkward transitions could be reworked to improve the flow of the piece. Use of recorded footage of the BBC news studio was a good idea that did not quite come off, seemingly unsure if it should draw the audience's attention or simply provide background scene-setting. There was the potential for further use of projection to replace some of the very simple scenery.

Focus in some scenes on the 1960s period setting drew amusement from the audience, who appreciated the pop culture references, but the period touches were not always convincing, particularly in the costuming.

A nice concept, but the execution never quite lets it surge through the stratosphere.

Apollo 11 is at Greenside @ Infirmary Street until 10 August

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