Historians will tell you what we know of the past comes largely from lucky finds; Cameron Stewart's re-discovery of his grandfather's diaries from the First World War and his publication of them in "real time" on the web and on BBC Radio 4 in the Today programme have made an invaluable contribution to people's understanding of that conflict and the motives of those who fought in it. No great surprise, then, to find Baby Belly 1 a nearly full house for Stewart's presentation of Captain Stewart and his experiences.

Cameron Stewart is a fine actor with an engaging personal presence; his ability to breathe life into words written almost a century ago is considerable, and his engagement with his audience equally so. What comes across strongly is the phlegmatic understated tenacity of those who quite clearly wished they could be somewhere else, but (mostly) saw it as their duty to carry on, obey orders and hope to hell they didn't get shot, or if they did, that it would be a non-fatal "blighty one" which would literally take them out of the firing line.

In Cameron Stewart's shrewd hands, his grandfather emerges as an essentially sympathetic character caught up, as so many others were, in a war neither of their making or choice, but in which they felt they had no alternative but "do their bit" and hope, without great expectation, to remain alive.

Every so often the Fringe throws up something unexpectedly special, and My Grandfather's Great War is among these. Strewn amid the tales of being trapped armpit high in mud and rats licking "Brilliantine" from Captain Stewart's hair, of horrific attacks and horrendous casualties, the humanity of Cameron Stewart's grandfather and the men he served with shine through. Their heroism is as much that of the survivor as the soldier, their hopes and dreams simple as pleasures taken among family and friends.

To regard the "lost generations" as naive or ludicrously optimistic is to ignore voices as shrewd and aware as Captain Stewart's.

Times: August 2-24, 14:45

Copyright Bill Dunlop August 2008

Published on EdinburghGuide.com August 2008