Bruce Alexander

First look: Marcus Brigstocke's The Red in Rehearsal

First look rehearsal images have been released for Marcus Brigstocke's bittersweet alcoholic drama, The Red, online from 17 March until 16 June 2022.

Edinburgh preview: The Red at Pleasance Dome

In this his stage directorial debut, originally commissioned for BBC Radio 4, Marcus Brigstocke writes and directs a bittersweet drama of family and addiction, based on his own recovery.

Marcus Brigstocke to direct first Edinburgh Fringe play

Marcus Brigstocke is to make his Edinburgh Fringe debut as a director. In Red, originally commissioned for BBC Radio 4, Brigstocke writes and directs a bittersweet drama of family and addiction, based on his own recovery.

A toe-curling date was the centrepiece of Love And Marriage, when retired lollipop lady Pauline (Alison Steadman) went for a drink and a movie with widowed teacher Peter (Bruce Alexander).

We know that Pauline is a dating novice - she's only been out with one man, and she's been married to him for 40 years. But last week she left him, and moved in with her flighty sister (Celia Imrie), who really should have explained some dating basics. Such as, if your hubby phones you during the date, don't answer. And if you do answer, don't have a blazing row. And if you do have a blazing row, remember that your date can hear everything you're saying about him.

The show is fragmenting into a collection of sketches, starring energetic but two-dimensional characters. The most interesting is daughter Heather (Niky Wardley), boiling with jealousy if her younger husband even speaks to another woman.

There's a sort of charm about Pauline's car-mad husband Ken, too. When Heather tells him she's just seen her mum being whisked off for her date in Peter's flashy E-Type Jaguar, Ken looks torn between feeling hurt and being impressed. 'E-Type? What year?' he asks.

Pauline's sister is thoroughly dislikable - the sort of shallow, brittle schemer that Imrie plays so well. Envious for decades of her sibling's happy marriage, she's delighted to help break it up. 'You've left a world of pain, not a man,' she assures Pauline.

This is the sort of comedy-drama that signals its 60-something characters are Being Free and Living Life, by having them blow up a space hopper and bounce round the living room. But like Dates [Channel 4's drama], it needs to start tying its story strands together.