My overall impression
The Snail is a play longing to be a movie, and as a result, it fails. There’s two minutes of exposition, followed by a blackout. Then there’s another scene, followed by another blackout. Another short scene, another blackout. This pattern continues for the (thankfully short) duration of the play.
It deals with a sensitive subject—a young man’s feelings that he was born in the wrong gender’s body. It’s a subject that deserves attention, but this isn’t the play to do that.
The performers are earnest, but lost in the razor-thin plot. Also, they’re performing in English, which is clearly a second language for all of them. So the confusing plot line is made more difficult to follow as a result of the accents.
This was the least rewarding show I’ve seen at this year’s Fringe (out of the 10 or so I’ve seen). I’d urge you to make another choice.
