Crutch of the matter
It's hard to find something truly different at the Edinburgh Festival.
Not because of a lack of imagination on the part of the performers but because of the sheer volume of shows.
Dance, music, stand up comedy, opera, farce, mime, it all begins to blend into another.
So Claire Cunningham's achievement in her show Mobile/Evolution is even more remarkable.
It's a personal tale about her own reliance on crutches - she's used them since she was 14 - and the power of dance in increasing her strength, her abilities and her confidence.
As she spins her way around the stage, sometimes above it on a trapeze made out of crutches, she explains the practicalities - too short, too long, makes your arms ache after a while - of assuming one size fits all.
It's far from a "poor me" approach. Far from it. It's a confident, and uplifting show, Claire's charm ensuring it's never uncomfortable even when its issues are.
And it's hard not to beam as she spins around the room in her finale of Singing in the Rain.
Sadly the Edinburgh run ended last night but hopefully we'll see more of her work in the future.
Not London’s South Bank, but the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow - every bit as lively in cultural terms as its namesake. I’m Pauline McLean, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Scotland’s arts correspondent, and I’ll be blogging here about arts events and issues happening across the country.
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