The Guardian 19 August 2024

What a lovely thing to have done. When the great actor Andy Gray was being treated for leukaemia before his Covid-related death in 2020, his friends agreed to stage a play inspired by his time in hospital. Hearing their plan, the nurses imposed one condition: it had to be funny.

Hard to see how it could be otherwise with this team. Chemo Savvy – a play on Kemosabe, Tonto’s name for the Lone Ranger – is written by panto stalwart Alan McHugh and stars Gray’s comedy colleagues Grant Stott, Jordan Young and Gail Watson, all experts in landing a punchline. So, yes, it is unashamedly about grief, guilt and the agony of treatment, but it is also about hope, reconciliation and laughter in the face of adversity. [READ MORE]

By Mark Fisher

MARK FISHER is a freelance theatre critic and feature writer based in Edinburgh and has written about theatre in Scotland since the late-1980s. He is a theatre critic for The Guardian, a former editor of The List magazine and a frequent contributor to the Scotsman and other publications. He is the co-editor of the play anthology Made in Scotland (1995), and the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide (2012) and How to Write About Theatre (2015) – all Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. He is also the editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls and What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book (both Mark Fisher Ltd).