Sara Masciotra-Milstein’s Me and You and the Highland Coo presented by Happy as a Clam Productions presented in the TD Finance Studio at Soulpepper as part of the fringe sounds light hearted enough.  Jackie and Charlie, a couple of Canadians who have just got their Masters at Aberdeen plan a road trip in search of a highland cow plushie while waiting for their visa applications to clear.  But there is trouble at home.  Jackie’s father is in the last throes of cancer and Charlie’s brother hasd serious mental health problems.  They decide to ignore text messages because if something important happens “they” will call (no they won’t says my personal experience).

As it happens Jackie’s visa has been approved so she could go home but prefers to keep her last, happy, memory of her father intact.  (The last time I saw my father it was just outside Aberdeen and he was also clearly on his way out, just saying).  As they try to ignore their phones and find a Tim Horton’s (apparently they exist in Scotland) various whimsical and stereotypically Scottish things happen.  Eventually with the help of their magical, whimsical and very Scottish GPS system they find their coo.  Then the phone rings.. I came out of the theatre and turned my phone on.  My 94 year old mother had a haemorrhage 48 hours ago.  There was no message.

If you don’t have a dying parent or rather fraught memories of the Aberdeen area this is really a fun show.  The jokes are a bit predictable but funny nonetheless.  Amy Ring and Brooklyn Melnyk as the girls are charming and Jeremy Lewis is very good as everything from the GPS system to a drunken pub quiz wizard to a Will o’the Wisp.  he can’t do a Glaswegian accent though!

If this show was a bit too personal yesterday afternoon’s effort was the opposite.  I saw David Lynch’s Seinfeld at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Sauna Playhouse.  A Seinfeld episode transforms into a David Lynch nightmare.  I got the Lynch references but never having seen a Seinfeld episode was a huge disadvantage.  Judging by the audience reaction though if you are a Seinfeld fan this is one to see.