Daniel Kitson - Stories for the Wobbly Hearted
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Andrew Haydon
posted 22 August 2005

Occasionally one sees something in a theatre which it is impossible to do justice to in a review. Daniel Kitson's story-telling show, Stories for the wobbly-hearted, is just this.

Put simply, Kitson sits in a nice, cosy-looking armchair, and tells the audience five stories that he has written. The themes are simple: boredom, loneliness, unrequited love, beauty, paternal love, mutual love and misunderstanding. The effect is astonishing. It is a rare thing to sit in a packed audience of adults, all of whom are sitting, transfixed, with a mixture of emotions playing across their faces, running between elation and the verge of tears.

Kitson is an excellent writer. His stories are well-structured, perfectly crafted and immaculately phrased, as well as being very funny, while avoiding whimsy. There is the most beautiful description of a kiss you are ever likely to hear spoken in a theatre. He is also the perfect performer for these tales; softly spoken, and unassuming, with a perfect sense of timing.

To re-iterate, it is impossible really to convey how and why this show works: suffice it to say that it would be impossible for anyone with even only the smallest shreds of humanity not to be utterly seduced by this magical show.