Cupid was a male prostitute who worked in Soho. Before he died in 2002, he posted a set of tapes that described his extraordinary life to writer and musician Luke Sutherland, a fellow Orcadian whom Cupid said he knew as a child (although Sutherland had no memory of meeting Cupid). From the tapes came Sutherland's affecting 2004 novella, Venus As A Boy.
Tam Dean Burn has adapted it for the stage and plays Cupid and other characters, while Sutherland performs his own haunting soundscape. We learn of Cupid's violent father, of his bisexuality and his extraordinary gift for sexual love. And when Cupid died at the age of 36, we see that his once-beautiful body has been ravaged by years of drug abuse.
It's a riveting play with simple staging, where a piece of material can be a bed sheet, parachute or makeshift tent. And Dean Burn - who moves from seedy pimp to six-year-old girl with the merest change of expression - gives an astonishing performance.
Until 26 August. Information 0131 228 1404, www.traverse.co.uk.
Venus as a Boy
Traverse, Edinburgh Fringe
