Dinosaurs was my final show of the Fringe, and in the appropriately green Riddles Court, just off the Mile. Claire (Hailey Hudson), a grad student, comes home to find Norma the dinosaur (Mandy Rubeli) in her flat. Baffled and blaming her SSRIs, she enlists the help of her childhood friend Hayden (a steadily reassuring Devin Stone) to deal with her new, equally confused companion who is absorbing the future (‘Why is nothing chrome like they said it would be?’)
We quickly establish that Norma is present as a result of traumatic sexual abuse from Claire’s childhood, and the only way to send her back in time is to seek some justice. This pivot does feel sudden, especially given the light-hearted nature of the first section, but Hudson especially anchors it well and with emotional sincerity. The unexpected appearance of a child (Faith Saporito, also directing) puts a spanner in the works, with Saporito turning in an appropriately aggrieved and angry performance; my favourite scenes were between her and Claire, and the narrative peak is well-handled.
Dinosaurs wasn’t what I was expecting, and it didn’t always land the surreal elements that sat alongside the more grounded and more serious content. But it was anchored by genuine and charismatic performances and deserves bigger crowds.
Dinosaurs is on at Thistle Theatre at Greenside, Riddles Court until the 29th August