Good Timin' at Newcastle Live Theatre

THIS time it's personal. Improv performer and star of 100-plus commercials Ian Mclaughlin wants to tell you a story. One that's close to his heart - the search for the father he never knew.

Happily for the audience he has chosen not to relate it chronologically or, in part at least, realistically. There are unexpected appearances by Doctor Who, a giraffe and another actor in what's billed as a one-man show (but as they're both playing the same man perhaps that counts as a one-man show).

Director Max Roberts aids and abets with a slick production that adds technological frills via video projection but doesn't overpower the human story.

Like all good stories Mclaughlin's is full of twists and turns, coincidences that take you by surprise and a lot of heart. He's only half-acting in this autobiographical slice of this life.

After his mum kick-starts the search for his father, he goes along with the idea with time-travelling help from the Time Lord and his Tardis but isn't really prepared for what he discovers.

This is by turns funny, sad, quirky, dramatic and moving. And Mclaughlin's rollercoaster performance shows that him as capable of handling a script as doing improv with Newcastle's The Suggestibles.

• Following preview performances at Live last week Good Timin' plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from Aug 14-23 at Northern Stage's venue King's College and then returns to Live from Oct 15-25. Live Box Office: 0191-2321232 and live.org.uk. Tickets for Edinburgh from northern stage.co.uk/edinburgh