Spencer Jones is The Herbert @ Heroes at the Hive

It might be Spencer Jones, but there's a possibility that Herbert is a street performer who has stared into the abyss. The bustle of the Royal Mile is visible from Niddry Street, but it could not feel further away.

This is a show of physical comedy. It's in a long tradition but most obviously reminiscent of Mr Bean. In place of the normal street performing apparatus, Herbert has the junk and debris left from 'the builders' and the half-job they have done on his bedsit. There are pipes, wall brackets, saws and all sorts of other stuff that looks like it has escaped from the bags charity shops specifically ask not be left in their doorways. The Clangers would love it here.

He sounds a little like The Clangers too – and it's tricky to distinguish Herbert's voice from the sound effects. He goes into near ventriloquism with a singing mop, models a convincing bird from the bracket and saws, and also an octopus from vacuum tubes. The quality varies and for many this will be too far along the silliness spectrum, which is a shame as the motivation behind all this activity becomes clear.

Herbert is not simply an act, but a story of a man's loneliness and disintegration, and how he's rebuilding his world with childlike wonder. It certainly beats the Royal Mile.