The Hypochondriac
★★★★★ Theatrical medicine
theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39): Sat 8 – Fri 28 Aug 2026
Review by Hugh Simpson
The Hypochondriac from Rebrand Theatre and New Celts at theSpace on the Mile is a comic triumph. Intelligently adapted and acted by a company bursting with comic potential, it is hugely entertaining, resolutely theatrical and recommended without hesitation.
Ross Gillan has fashioned a version of Molière’s Le Malade Imaginaire that runs for just over an hour. It’s not a long play to begin with, so there’s not a great deal missing, and the dialogue is full of life and zest. That difficult business of mixing old-fashioned register with modern vocabulary is achieved seemingly with ease.
Logan Mckerron. Pic Alistair Dempster.
The hypochondriac of the title is Argan, an ageing miser whose credulity is exploited by rapacious doctors and his second wife Béline, while he tries to marry off his unwilling daughter Angélique (to a doctor, naturally).
Logan McKerron plays the title role with elements of Scrooge, Rumpelstiltskin and the best of the Scottish variety tradition. It is a peevish, fractious and defiantly charming characterisation, anchoring the whole play with real skill.
impressive comic performances
Gillan himself plays three contrasting roles with hugely impressive comic performances. Rory Agnew has multiple roles as different doctors, and also makes a big impression. Benji Gibbs also doubles up, with their robotically glaikit suitor Thomas particularly fine.
Candice Crossan’s Angélique is a wonderful combination of sympathy and seething petulance, while Kira Giles gives Béline the right combination of outward affection and inward avarice.
Kira Giles, Logan Mckerron, Ross Gillan. Pic Alistair Dempster.
Toinette, the archetypal Molière clever servant, is played by Jess Donnelly with a knowing air and excellent timing.
Alistair Dempster’s direction is breezy and brings out the comedy beautifully while still giving the story room to breathe. There is an enviable ensemble feel to the whole thing; performers’ reactions to each other are thought through and executed perfectly and the comedy is given full value.
tremendous
Rowenna Nelson’s execution of Dempster’s sound and lighting design is first-rate. Dempster and Giles’s set is geared to use the acting space to its best advantage, while Giles’s costumes are tremendous.
Ross Gillan, Logan Mckerron, Jess Donnelly, Candice Crossan. Pic Alistair Dempster.
In tribute to the original’s comédie-ballet roots, there’s even a dance routine that is wonderfully daft and (like much of his performance) suggests that McKerron has a huge future in pantomime, or in any other genre he chooses. The same could be said of the rest of a uniformly promising young cast.
What makes this so special is the fact that, while some of the comedy is so gleefully OTT, it always knows when to hold back. There are a couple of understated, almost throwaway moments – a gesture from Toinette, the facial reactions of Gillan’s notary, Béline’s almost-retort at her exit – that make you hug your knees in joy.
fun and fulfilling
Being hypercritical, there are things that don’t quite come off. The setting seems to be the late 1940s (there are mentions of a newly-formed NHS as well as a recent war) but this doesn’t quite come off, and some of the updating doesn’t ring true.
This is easily excused, however, when it is the only conceivable weak link in a production as fun and fulfilling as this.
Running time: One hour 10 minutes (no interval).
theSpace on the Mile (Space 3), 80 High St, EH1 1TH. (Venue 39).
Saturday 8 – Friday 28 August 2026.
Daily (even dates only): 3.05pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Facebook: @Rebrand-Theatre
Instagram: @rebrandtheatre
Candice Crossan, Ross Gillan, Benji Gibbs, Rory Agnew. Pic Alistair Dempster.
ENDS
