Review: Son of Dyke (Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh)

We all need some cockles warmed at the Edinburgh Fringe – both amidst the torrential downpours and awful political climate we exist in. For all its advances, queer families are still ostracised – only this week saw a huge spike in homophobic hate crimes.

And indeed, actor Jordan Waller (here making his stage debut) has the sort of soaring, powerful story that is a pleasant, amiable experience. The sort of narrative that gives audiences a chance to see a brighter, more accepting future where, even in the face of adversity, love can prevail.

Based on his own experiences, Waller explains his genealogy – the gay son of a deceased lesbian mother, created via sperm donor. Told with minimal props and oodles of charm, Waller rattles through his life and quest to find both catharsis following family loss, and his biological father. Director Anna Fox keeps things ticking along briskly – the members of Waller's biological and chosen family fade in and out of view.

The piece started life at the VAULT festival earlier this year and, for all its merits, it sometimes feels a bit vanilla – Waller's joviality becoming somewhat one-note. At an Edinburgh Fringe where urgent stories are being told both optimistically and with gripping nuance, Son of Dyke feels like something of a simplification – an opportunity missed.

While you'd never accuse Waller of fluffing his stage debut, he often resorts back to the same easy charm, coating both heartache and heavy realisations with the same veneer. Cocksure, but rarely revelatory.