Tonight with Donny Stixx (Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh)

Philip Ridley's new play for one actor, Sean Michael Verey (Jamie in BBC 3's sitcom Pramface), is part solo turn, part confessional, part audition, part cry for help. And like all Ridley's writing, it's vivid with imagery and hard detail of life in the East End of London, utterly convincing and authentic.

Which is not to say that Ridley is a "literal" or naturalistic writer at all. Even the language of a sad sack like Donny Stixx dances and sparkles as he documents his unhappiness at home, his devotion to his mum, Yvonne, and his open mic gig in the Westfield Shopping Centre.

He's got a problem with girls, Donny, who seem to prefer geeks with bad breath, and he's somehow come by a gun, which doesn't bode well for anyone else, such as the management at the Velcro agency (for artists who stick together) who haven't exactly booked him into the Palladium.

Donny Stixx, the boy with tricks, is a wounded creature, born with a club foot that needed a series of operations to straighten him out, unloved by his dad but encouraged by Yvonne to such an extent that she's made him a glittering suit (though we never see it; Verey's in sweat shirt and jeans throughout the 70 minutes).

His career peaks in the Sunshine hospice where he plays to an audience of nine. This is the other end of the business, miles removed from Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet at the Barbican. But Donny doesn't want any banning of cameras or phones; "Please feel free to film me," he pleads, before launching a climactic tirade that is both histrionic and terrifying.

It's a great performance by Verey, who's a fully wired and cheeky bad boy of the sort Andrew Scott used to play, and he's certain to figure in the Fringe awards some time soon.

Tonight with Donny Stixx runs at the Pleasance Courtyard until 31 August.