The Adventures of Wound Man and Shirley

Written by Caroline Whitham | 21 August 2011

Storytelling has gone a bit meta this Fringe. By that, I mean that many of the fascinating storytellers attending the festival are not only weaving their tales, they’re showing you the loom they did it on.

Chris Goode is a fine example of this. He begins this one-man play by explaining what inspired him to write it: his first, unrequited love for a boy in his class at school, a boy who had a girlfriend but spent his lunchtimes sharing a pair of earphones with Goode, listening to music and between them “making stereo”.

The Adventures of Wound Man and Shirley is full of beautiful imagery like this. You feel you could reach out and stroke the perfect cheek of Shirley’s crush – like Goode, Shirley is desperately in love with a boy who never seems to notice him – or cut your finger on one of the swords sticking out of Wound Man.

14-year-old Shirley, with his odd name and outsider tendencies, becomes the sidekick of Wound Man when the latter moves into his boring suburban cul-de-sac. Wound Man is a superhero shot through with swords and arrows, and with a very special ability – making other people feel better about the disasters that they’ve suffered. And ironically nobody needs this more than Shirley, for reasons that are slowly revealed throughout the play. However, middle-class morality looms in the form of next-door neighbour and local busybody Reg Parsley.

Wound Man and Shirley is a complex piece without being difficult, which open-minded parents could well take their own teenagers to see. Nobody is vilified, nobody is perfect; even Reg Parsley, no matter his small-mindedness, is given moments of sympathy; even Wound Man, no matter his kindness or decency, is occasionally shown to be uncomfortably fond of his young charge.

There are a couple of moments that fall a little flat, including an unnecessary knob joke that pushes the age range higher than it should, but overall this is a wonderful example of creative and adventurous storytelling for adults that teenagers just might learn from, too.

The Adventures of Wound Man and Shirley, Pleasance Courtyard, 20-29 August, 12.10pm