UCAS (Edinburgh Fringe)

It's almost deadline day for university applications and Miss Turner is determined to get her students to finish their personal statements and apply for higher education. The synopsis sounds promising but unfortunately none of the characters are likeable and it is difficult to actually care if any of them decide further their education or not in this production of UCAS.

The songs do not give any story progression and are ultimately full of cliché lyrics that do nothing to add to the pace of the show. The musicians are all on stage and play live throughout the show which is a welcome addition, albeit even if at times they are overpoweringly loud.

The delivery of the songs is not executed well; the painful harmonies of the cast demonstrate a lack of rehearsal and with so many other new musicals across the Fringe this year, this lacklustre piece stands out for the wrong reasons.

The show has a promising storyline; if there was a little more depth to the characters and a rewrite of the songs there could be a future for the show although as it is, I can't foresee anything this could offer as a successful new musical.

UCAS runs at Greenside at Nicholson Square until August 23.

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