The Scottish penny-pinching stereotype gets played for laughs in Moliere's comedy 'The Miser', the 51st Fringe production of local amateur group The Edinburgh People's Theater.Old miser Harpagon (Dick Godden), is obsessed with saving his own money, and suspicious of everyone who's in the vicinity of it. Valuing wealth above his children's happiness, he plans to marry off his son Cleante (Scott Braidwood) and daughter Elise (Anne Mackenzie) to rich families, despite their heart's desires lying elsewhere.The play, written in 1668, has been adapted by J J Mills, and in this production, set around 1920-30s, the actors draw on their thick Scottish accents. However this is local community theatre, and as such the quality of acting varies from wooden, to over the top. Thankfully the best actor is cast in the lead role. Dick Godden puts in a solid performance as the greedy miser, with good physicality, movement and vocal delivery, it was easy to laugh at the absurdity of his character. The other standout performance was from Ronnie Millar, who played the deliciously camp Jacques, the cook and coachman. Millar's comical combination of Rab C Nesbitt and Graham Norton was a real hit with the audience, playing up to the crowd at every opportunity, he's the source of the majority of laughs. Special mention to the two elderly maids who have a delightful sense of comedy, turning their small scene into a sketch good enough for the Two Ronnies. It's a shame they didn't have more to do as they were definitely missed when not on stage.The direction could have been a bit more dynamic, with most of the actors guilty of standing still throughout entire scenes. This caused a few scenes to drag, whereas a bit more movement would have helped liven things up a bit.Impressively for amateur theatre, the production features a wide variety of lavish period costumes, reminiscent of an episode of Jeeves and Wooster.The sizable church venue was pretty full, and given that a lot of fringe shows struggle to get an audience, the Edinburgh People's Theatre are a success, with the crowd of regulars seemingly happy enough with their evenings entertainment. I overheard one lady say, 'it is what it is'. Fair enough.
