2014 Edinburgh Fringe

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It's 1983 and the buildings are burning. Joseph Morpurgo emerges, petrol-sodden, from the wreckage. Laden with found footage, forgotten characters, and other relics from an imagined past.

Morpurgo drags us - clumsily, one-by-one - into the depths of his comic fantasia. Buttondown the hatches, Morpurgo's back!

Odessa is homage to a non-existent past. Taking snippets of old VHS recordings, Morpurgo extrapolates on, deduces from, and triumphantly artefactualises, a discarded past. With a fistful of bizarre and surreal characters, Morpurgo connects-the-dots between the crackle and the fuzz, and delivers a poignant tribute to a world of people who never existed.

Odessa is the follow up to the critically-acclaimed Truth mouth - Morpurgo's solo debut, and one of the runaway word-of-mouth hits of last year's Free Fringe. Having emerged from the relative obscurity of London's improv scene, in the last year Morpurgo has marked himself out as one of the country's most exciting young character performers.

Cutting his teeth as part of award-winning Fringe-favourites Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel - a group he continues to perform with - it is as a solo act that Morpurgo has demonstrated a truly innovative approach to character work. By establishing high-concept frameworks in which his creations come to life, Morpurgo continues to play with the form and push his comedy in a bright and bold new direction.

In 2013 Morpurgo was featured as part of BBC Radio 4's Fresh From The Fringe. Earlier this year he appeared in BBC2's Harry & Paul's Story of the 2s, hit the road as part of Austentatious' maiden UK tour, and picked up a Chortle Award with the group for Best Character, Improv or Sketch Act.

Odessa is directed by Natalie Bailey. Bailey has directed The Thick Of It - Series 4 (BBC2), Heading Out (BBC2) and Pramface (BBC Three). Elsewhere on the Fringe Joseph Morpurgo appears in The Circus (22:30; Assembly George Square), and Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel (13:40; Pleasance Dome).