ANTI-TORY sentiment is the common theme for this year's winners of the Platform 18 award for new directors, but the more successful of the two productions homes in on the human drama behind the legislation.

Thatcher's Children is the creation of Gary Gardiner and his three castmates, who enter wearing full-head Maggie masks, each armed with a Mr Whippy, for the Iron Lady's funeral. It's an arresting opening, and Rachel O'Neill's design is great throughout, but the content of the show is patchy and uninspiring, full of meaningless statements like "all her policies were based around money" and culminating in a collection of increasingly venomous vox pops. Nothing that happens on stage can match the compelling theatricality of the House of Commons footage included, and this can be found on YouTube.

Beats is a different proposition altogether. Writer/performer Kieran Hurley joins DJ Johnny Whoop on stage to present what could – perhaps, technically – be regarded as the kind of public gathering described in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994. You don't have to be a techno lover to get sucked right into the tale of young Johnny McCreadie's initiation into a world of under-canvas euphoria and morning-after agony. Hurley's performance is deceptively brilliant – beginning in unassuming fashion with a nostalgic description of a 15-year-old's bedroom but going on to tap convincingly into the minds of a worried mother, a haunted policeman and the daft bad influences who keep them up at night. Those who missed them at The Arches can catch both shows in a double bill at the Traverse in Edinburgh from April 25 to 28.

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