Theatre

Richard Dedominici has spooned himself into a pair of very odd spaces for his two shows at this year’s Fringe. For his evening production ‘Plagiarismo!’ we are led into a tiny tiled room, where the deadpan Dedominici eyes us up like a particularly ironic lavatory attendant (though we are assured this is in fact a cloakroom).

Our host proceeds to launch into one of his trademark pseudo-lectures, this time tackling the weighty subject of what constitutes plagiarism. Numerous interesting titbits are thrown up – there is one particularly alarming revelation about the use of anti-plagiarism software in universities – and Dedominici’s droll patter would nicely fill an hour regardless of subject. But while not quite self-plagiarism, the theme becomes something of an excuse for him to harp on about previous projects, to the point it begins to feel like a little like self-promotion. He does seem to have a case for being plagiarised quite a lot, and it’s not like such old chestnuts as asylum seeker boybands and packing himself into a suitacse are boring. But the show drifts inexorably off remit, disappearing gently up our host’s navel.

‘Plane Food Cafe’ is similarly muddled, but much more charming. A 25 minute piece held in a mocked up airplane midsection, Dedominici and assistant Trish are our cabin crew, serving us a genuine airline meal. A pre-lunch video presentation about birds getting chewed up in jet engines is meant to serve to curb our appetites for both meal and air travel. This is what Dedominici tells us, anyway, but our ever-wry captain is happy to admit it hasn’t really worked - the subject is approached at far too whimsical a tangent to impart any sort of message. We're left with a quirky, funny muddle, one considerably more appealing than the lunch itself.

Both 'Plagiarismo!' and 'Plane Food Café' played at New Town Theatre, 96 George Street, Edinburgh.