. Streetcar

Temple Bar Galleries

THE Corn Exchange, an umbrella group formed to promote performance work, astonished many of the Fringe audience last year with its collection of performance pieces, Cultural Schrapnel. The ghastly joyriders' sketch neered a modem take on Commedia dell'Arte which was terrifyingly effective: it followed the hints of what we know about the Italian theatrical tradition in that it reduced personality, through gesture, to strong stereotype. It eschewed masks - in favour of the white clown's make up, however, and jerkily fractured the movement into cinematic frames.

Streetcar, directed by Annie Ryan is the same group's offering for this year's Fringe, and is bound to be a highlight of the event. It extracts the essence of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire - the terrifying twilight of an ageing beauty, hounded by the vicious sexism of the southern states. Blanche is played, brilliantly, in drag, by Tony Flynn, which makes her sexual self promotion all the more distressing. Few actresses could abandon their pride so as to achieve the same effect.

Kiz Kut plays the pregnant and battered Stella Kowalski, Gary Cooke, the ape-like battering husband, Andrew Bennett, the Mitch who could have made Stella happy if he had been let - and the stunning make up fixes their characters in ghastly caricatures.

. Fille du Ciel et de la Terre

Players TCD

A lone actress (Camille Grandville) takes possession of an empty stage and in an audacious flow of improvisation brings the story of Joan of Arc brilliantly to life. With the raw materials of backstage (a few lights, sweeping brushes, a mop and a bottle of bleach) she weaves an absolutely magical narrative.

This is theatre at its inventive best, transcending any constraints of language (in this instance a vibrant flow of French, with the occasional concessionary phrase in anglais) and insisting on the full imaginative involvement of the viewer. The dull black box is transubstantiated: the dramatic sleights of hand are full of wit, surprise and effrontery. You can't take your eyes off it for a second. Merveilleux!

. The Home made Child

City Arts Centre A crabbed inventor obsessed with acquiring riches, a house full of painful secrets, a child hungry for love - the Scottish Lung Ha Theatre Company of performers with learning disabilities has blended timeless elements from fair tales and added some effective props, to create an hour long parable of loss and love. Despite some magical touches, the frequent longueurs and overly emblematic approach leave an overall impression of worthiness.