EDINBURGH 2010: BWW Reviews: CLOSEST TO THE MOON (Pleasance Dome)

The more I see of One Academy Productions, the more impressed I am. These are students from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and compared to other student shows on the Fringe, their training is evident.

The blurb about this show is depressingly straightforward - "Why would anyone undertake something as foolhardy as climbing Everest? Largely based on actual reportage and centred around a lone climber at extraordinary altitude, this work in progress is about ambition and achievement, real and metaphorical mountains, and what it takes to reach the top." Sure, that's what it's about, but it's more than that, and the beauty of the acapella orchestrations (credit to writer Richard Taylor and MD Claire McKenzie) and the cleverness of the movement (directed by Philip Howard) can't be encapsulated in words anyway.

Even if you went to see this and weren't too keen on the content, listening to the cast's voices would keep you entertained for 40 minutes anyway - simply glorious vocal quality.