Berg/Wedekind's Lulu is a seductress and I was seduced into trying American Lulu in the hopes that a novel version would warm me to a piece which I've tried to like a couple of times before.

But like seduction the result isn't guaranteed.  I didn't like it.  I didn't like most things about it; the music, the libretto, the story, the addition of civil rights speeches with no apparent connection to the action.

The staging was lovely though.  I liked the twin curtains of golden threads through which the cast flitted and onto which images were projected but that's not enough for a worthwhile evening in the theatre.

Much more satisfactory was The Diary of Ann Frank.

After its Fringe run Theatre Alba's production was appearing for one night only at the Brunton.  In my opinion a much more suitable venue for a story about people hiding in an attic for two years than in the open air at Duddingston Kirk.

It was a fine production and the scenes of joy at the news of the allied invasion and anticipated freedom followed by discovery, transfer to the camps and death were extremely well played and moving.