Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 7 Feb only (touring)

Yael Rasooly’s one woman show has won awards all over the world and the Edinburgh audience seemed no less appreciative. The slightly smaller space of Traverse Two reverberated with laughter throughout the performance and was concluded to extended rounds of enthusiastic applause.

Papercut tells the story of a lonely and frustrated secretary whose unrequited love for her employer plays out in a series of after-hours fantasies. The straightforward plot is elevated by the inventive use of paper props with which “Miss Spencer” animates her romantic daydreams, and also by Rasooly’s enthusiastic performance. She is a multi-talented and charismatic performer, engaging the audience through unscripted chat, music and the sympathetic yet comical heroine she has created.

There is a slight technical issue in that most of the action takes place stage left and the paper props are sometimes difficult to see from the other side of the auditorium, but Rasooly does her best to make sure everyone gets the visual jokes. The balance between pathos and comedy is also an uneasy one: with so much broad humour, the more poignant bits of the tale can seem like an afterthought. However, these minor niggles go largely unnoticed.