Cooking For Love

This production must contain the single most heinous act of sabotage by an actor to be found anywhere in this year's Fringe: after building his one-man play to a skilfully-worked climax, Iwan Dam ruins it all in one stroke with a shameless piece of self-promotion that shows utter disregard for his own work and for his audience. In this culinary-themed piece, it's the equivalent of preparing an exquisite Dover sole and garnishing it with rancid fat.

For the rest of the show, Dam is on strong form, blending cookery with theatre in elegantly original ways. At various stages in the monologue, the grind of a mortar and pestle becomes a droning engine, and his rhythmic chopping of spring onions the rattling of a train.

While the finished dishes never quite manage to reach your reviewer's row, the audience's reaction certainly suggested that they match up to expectations. Not content with this, Dam even branches out into some passable musical numbers.

While the plot, a coincidence-heavy love story taking place in various centres of global cuisine, sometimes appears contrived, it develops into something much more interesting. However, just as it seems that Cooking For Love could be a genuinely touching account of failing to connect with the one you love, Dam screams out his Fringe listings information.

Whether intended for comic effect or not, this is a disastrous move. The next and final scene passes in a pathos-free haze. There's a case for calling this show a tragedy - one man's excellent work ruined by his staggering arrogance.