Anorexia is a serious issue. It can be discussed in weighty articles and medical reports and… musicals. Or at least this is what Caroline Horton wants to convince the audience tonight.

Mess comes to the North Wall fat on critical claim, the (unbuttered) toast of the Fringe. Horton’s previous, well-received works have been personal and this latest piece is no exception. Crucially, the playwright herself suffered from eating disorders. Tonight she wears a vintage dress one size too small, a relic from those days. Her starting point is not that eating disorders are taboo, but they are difficult to begin to talk – or sing and dance – about.

It is a meta-theatrical 70 minutes. Horton plays Josephine, who along with her two friends Boris and Sistahl, attempts to put on a musical about anorexia. Like so many of these productions-within-a- production, their efforts stall and start. The director, as an anorexic, is always seeking the perfect, flawless, play.

The most important work of Mess is its quest to debunk some of the anorexic myths. Horton quite rightly shows that the disease is not an attempt to look like a supermodel, but a means to stay in control. Daringly, it even suggests that anorexics find comfort in their illness. There is a satisfaction and sense of achievement that comes from avoiding meals or arranging food. One scene shows Josephine lay out the pieces of an apple in painstaking slow-motion. Somewhere, it has all the tension of a horror film.

Despite these messages, Mess never feels worthy. It never preaches, unlike so many ‘problem plays’. Indeed, at times it teeters too far into the whimsical or twee. The final scenes are best described as slapstick or farce. Interestingly, the show was co-produced with scientific experts and funded by the Wellcome Trust. Horton is running a series of workshops for this with eating disorders, but the most valuable – and surprisingly enjoyable – work will be this strange musical. Mess says a lot, disjointedly – but that is so much better than saying nothing at all.