This wasn’t on my review slate,  I just fancied it, and in the process uncovered a real gem.  I Dreamt you Differently is the sort of under-the- radar Fringe theatre that needs and deserves  to be championed.

In all honesty, the venue has its challenges:  the Studio upstairs emanates significant crowd noise, the High Street pipers are pumping their guts out, (very audibly),  street chatter can be heard, the foyer is cramped and the queuing system is sub-optimal; therefore, to perform an hour of theatre this good, this emotional, is far beyond expectation, but good theatre this certainly is.

Milk +Mallet is a new company. This is their first production, and writer and lead performer Abbey Gillet (Mariella), takes command of this sketchy space from the off.

Her dad, Billy Mason, visits his daughter, in a down at heel hotel room (on point for the venue); Mason is  a successful businessman who’s helped to fuel Mariella’s career and has just sold his business for millions.

She’s a featured artist on the hottest artist in town’s next single and is seen as the next Amy Winehouse or Raye. She’s worth millions.

It’s all good. Or is it? Let’s start by factoring in that her mum is dead and dad’s a bit of a wide boy.

There are few productions about father and daughter relationships. It’s rarely a ‘thing’, so the theme alone is refreshing. It’s lifted even further by the performances of Gillet and her father, played by Andrew Pearson Wright, who are both excellent. The casting, in age terms, is open to question – he must have been a VERY young father, but it works due to the skill of the  actors.

The storyline unfolds gradually, all is not what it initially seems.  Father and daughter are not easy on this  Sunday. Not all is right in the camp, but love definitely underpins this relationship.

This is bold, original, Fringe theatre. It  deserves a bigger stage and  feels like something worth development investment, here’s hoping.