House of Oz is punching at this year’s Fringe, with this one-hander maintaining the quality of its wide variety of entertainment.  It’s not easy to critique this without spoilers because the story, like a Russian doll, has layer upon layer revealing themselves as the plot thickens – but overshare and the experience will be ruined.

Madelaine Nunn is both its writer and its performer with the strength of her work comes fundamentally from the quality of her script.

It starts in an Australian hospice.  One of the less likeable patients has just passed away in Room 13, probably because of the Big C.

C’s feature strongly in this production, three in particular: comfort, care and compassion, and to nurse Jenny, her latest patient was a C all right. The other short term residents are all right, particularly the dying ballerina who likes her drinks just like she likes her diamonds, crystal clear and always at hand. Jenny likes playing board games with her, and  although this shows her compassion, she’s in it for the win.

The new resident of room 13 is…WOW… just wow. Jenny is immediately girl-like in his fabulous presence and will go out of her way to help. When he asks her to pop round to his flat to pick up a book that he’s left behind things take a strange turn.

The story quickly ramps up into a stalker-esque thriller as one thing leads to another and Jenny’s life changes dramatically. It’s a study in obsession and poor mental health, all centred around grief.  Appropriate, given that Jenny is working with dying patients day in-day out.

What Nunn brings to this production, aside from great, taut writing, is a loveable energy, a real sparkle in her performance and an ability to hold the audience for an hour with no set, no props and little to nothing in the way of technical flamboyance. So everything is invested in her ability to simply tell a story with a range of micro expressions and a highly nuanced performance.

One person shows can sag at times. There’s nowhere to hide and the storytelling has to be of the highest order to keep the audience awake (in this heat) on side, and entertained. Nunn does all three, and when the final doll is revealed…well, let’s just say we didn’t see it coming.

‘Flick‘ is at Summerhall – Red Lecture Theatre until Mon 25 Aug 2025 at 16:45