We have now been in Edinburgh for a week and it has been quite the whirlwind and change of pace compared to Glasgow! Of course, our wonderful Lifelong has now debuted in Studio 2 of Assembly George Square Studios and so far it has been quite a rewarding experience. Our show is every day at noon which then leaves the rest of the afternoon for a plethora of shows to see all around! Everywhere you turn here in Edinburgh, there is a show to be seen or some kind of art being presented which is just such a dream as an actor myself. My mother and older sister came to support our show and I also was then able to spend some quality time with them after not seeing them for many weeks! My sister is also an actor/director and lover of theatre so she was eager to go see multiple shows so in this week I have seen many shows all around the Fringe.
The first show I went to see was Friendliest, a one man show performed by Drew Lausch which was a phenomenal way to begin my show-watching experience here at the Fringe. Drew is a stand up comedian so this show was very much of that nature but had many dark and tragic themes intertwined with the comedy throughout. The show was his story of growing up gay in a small town in North Dakota and how he coped with all he went through surrounding this by then inventing the world’s first gay superhero. The show had me giggling in my seat at many moments but also brought me to tears hearing his story and how he then turned around all the horrible things he was called as a child and let that fuel him to create the kind of hero he needed as a kid. It was a small venue/stage setting which created a very intimate setting and he looked the audience directly in the eyes which really brought me into his story as he talked to us like a friend. I have been highly recommending this show to my friends on the trip as I went with my sister and mom and I will most likely be going back to see it again.
Another show I saw that I thoroughly enjoyed was Doris, Dolly, and the Dressing Room Divas with a cast of three women, Gail Watson, Frances Thorburn and Clare Waugh. This musical was at the Gilded Balloon venue and was also a story that had a beautiful balance of comedy as well as tragic truths being told as well. These three women shared the stories of beloved icons Doris Day, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, and Dolly Parton, singing their greatest hits and most well known songs while also “bringing them into the dressing room chair” and sharing personal stories of their lives offstage; stories of their loves, their families, how they coped with fame in their own ways and shedding light on who these women are to their core as opposed to how the world portrayed them publicly. As a musical theatre major myself, I loved every moment of this production hearing the stories of women who have always been icons to me and hearing songs I already hold so much love for in my heart. A highlight for me was during the section about Liza Minnelli talking about the film version of Cabaret, which is one of my favorite musicals, and hearing more about how they filmed that movie version of the show with Joel Grey as the Emcee. They filmed in Germany post World War 2 which was a very brave and raw choice as the show is about a night club in Berlin during the war. My favorite shows I have seen here seem to be shows that have a mix of comedic elements which then makes the dark, more tragic elements even more hardhitting, which I also think our show Lifelong does wonderfully as well. This photo below was the set for Doris, Dolly and the 3 Dressing Room Divas.
Probably my favorite show that I have seen here in Edinburgh so far has been Shotgunned by Matt Anderson. This was the first show we attended all together as a company and my mom and sister also came! This show was just a cast of 2 and it was incredibly impactful. I didn’t know to do research ahead of time on what this show would be about so going in blind was an incredible experience. This story touched me deeply on the struggles women go through and what it could do to your mental health to have a miscarriage and the actress who portrayed Roz who has a miscarriage was incredible and raw. The story is one of love between two young people but the relationship falls apart for many reasons but mainly surrounding the fact that Roz has a miscarriage and she slips into such a dark place mentally because of the horrors and her boyfriend doesn’t quite have the maturity to understand. The scenes of the show were not in chronological order which I loved because it kept me so engaged on what was going to happen next and the pieces of the story slowly fell into place in such a beautiful way. The ending was extremely moving, because these two people went through such horrors together but found their love, peace, and futures that they always wanted with other people in the end. It was a gut wrenching story of truth about how sometimes you can truly love someone but it is just not meant to be in the end.
Now our first week of performing our show and seeing theatre left and right has come to a close and it has already been a week worth remembering! We have many shows we will see all together lined up over the next couple of days and I have made it a goal of mine to see 1-2 shows a day on top of our Lifelong at noon every day. Since Tuesday, I have now seen 8 shows, each being extremely impactful to me in different ways and it has only been 4 days so I am just over the moon about this next week and a half and what kind of stories I will be introduced next! This place is just any theatre-goers dream and I just love how accessible theatre is here, especially with the Fringe but overall what I’ve noticed during my time in Scotland is how theatre is so much a part of the culture here but a lot of that is how accessible seeing theatre is here compared to back in the U.S. After this experience I am excited to bring all that I’ve seen and learned back to the states and continue to create art and help do anything I can to tell stories that are accessible to all kinds of people to see and enjoy!
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