Emotion-filled whale tale

Archive of Educated Hearts (which alternates with this show), returns with a very different beast: Melville’s whale quest, relocated to contemporary London and told by one woman with a model boat, some ceramic animals and a soundscape of oceanic proportions (which threatens, at times, to drown out her voice).

Dylan has just lost her job and her flat and is sitting next to her broken-down car on the top floor of a multi-storey car park in Hounslow. Faced with the prospect of her life falling apart, she begins a odyssey across London on foot. Meanwhile, Ahab is a ginger cat with a grudge against the woman who ran him over causing him to lose a leg. And while the Pequod, with a feline crew, is sailing up the Thames, a young female bottlenose whale is in difficulties near Westminster Bridge.

These threads converge in ways which are funny, and sad, and deeply human. But if quirky storytelling shows have become commonplace on the Fringe (thank you, Daniel Kitson), this one stands out for the elegance of its writing and the depth of its emotional journey.

It’s a story about seeing the world turn against you and being honest enough to acknowledge that it’s partly your fault. It’s about the danger of seeing the world in black and white, the importance of small acts of kindness, and how sometimes it’s okay to admit that some things are just too big to wrestle with.

SUSAN MANSFIELD

Until 25 August. Today 7:30pm