Max Olesker's solo show *Making the Cut*, playing at Pleasance Dome in Edinburgh, gives a candid account of his lengthy conversion from liberal to Orthodox Judaism, a process he undertook to marry his partner. The show, adapted from his memoir, matters as a piece of theatre because it balances comedy with a genuinely searching, ambivalent perspective on religious tradition, rather than offering a simple redemption arc.

The story begins with Olesker, formerly of the double act Max and Ivan, meeting his now-fiancée at the Edinburgh fringe; although both are Jewish, his family's informal religious background is not recognised as valid by hers, forcing him to undergo strict requirements including renouncing his surname, giving up performing, abstaining from physical contact with his partner for years, attending synagogue three times daily, and being circumcised. Much of the tension comes from his efforts to speed up the process, overseen by an authoritarian rabbinical court, so his ailing father and his partner's elderly grandmother can attend the wedding. The reviewer praises the show's humour, including a klezmer-style musical number, while noting it ultimately offers a nuanced, diplomatically framed critique of how religious rites are enforced. It runs at Pleasance Dome until 30 August, before transferring to Soho Theatre in London from 3–21 November.