I suppose it must have been almost eight years ago that the name of Richard Thomson came to my attention when he was performing in the Fringe as part of the Cambridge Footlights and he has been a regular Edinburgh in August most years subsequently.

Fringe 2006 saw him performing Rebus McTaggart at The Underbelly, and Sheila won the battle for the review ticket so the crit on the site is hers. I was delighted to get the chance to see for myself what she had been raving about as Thomson is bringing the show on tour during Spring 2007 and I managed to catch the Kirkcaldy date.

Scots born Thomson has written and performs all characters in this hour long romp. As Joint Deputy Temporary Head Community Support Liaison Officer Rebus McTaggart of Ecclefechan he is giving a lecture to potential police recruits, us the audience, and with quick costume changes he also plays a police psychologist, an artist and even a police dog as part of the insight to police life and business.

The script is very well written, liberally laced with humour, some belly laughs, some clever puns, excellent characterisation from the performer and the whole hour evaporated far too soon for virtually all of the audience, except maybe the lady on the front row who reluctantly found herself an integral part of the performance, all done in the best of taste though.

Any problems? well I would have loved to have seen a packed house for this exceptionally funny performance, but those who were there all seemed to have an absolute hoot.

To check out where the tour continues check out the web site www.rebusmctaggart.com for a date near you.