Teach Me

Simon is a naïve 18-year-old, keen as mustard to get his first taste of naughtiness but clueless about how it all works. Emma is ten years older, in a ‘complicated’ relationship with a married man, and now unexpectedly alone with Simon in a bedroom at a party. Will they or won’t they, and who will make the first move?

So begins the cringingly humorous yet touching two-hander sex comedy Teach Me from Edinburgh-based young people’s theatre company Strange Town. Alan Gordon’s script is pithy and clever, written naturalistically but with a kind of rough poetry. It spins the well-worn format round in unexpected directions, reversing roles all over the place yet never losing sight of its emotional honesty.

Both characters emerge with depth and complexity, and they’re ably conveyed by the two actors. Andy Peppiette as Simon has a great line in telling facial expressions, but he can play the wounded suitor well too. And Amy Drummond conceals a fragile heart behind her bluff and bluster as Emma. It’s quite low-key, and limited in its ambitions, but it’s still a little gem.

Hill Street Theatre, 226 6522, until 26 Aug (not 20), 2.30pm, £9--£12 (£7--£10).