In our latest look at what to watch out for at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, we take a look at 12 shows that are based on true life stories.
These Fringe shows highlight hard-hitting subjects including abortion in ‘All Aboard at Termination Station’, mental health and homophobia in ‘Boy Out The City’, climate change in ‘HOME’, the Windrush generation in ‘One Way Out’, alcoholism in ‘Thirst’ and racism in semi-autobiographical one woman play ‘Tickbox 2’.
5. Thirst
The solo debut of actor and writer Callum Hughes is a showcase of sympathetic yet humerous diaries on his battles with alcoholism, his life as a musician, and a reminder that not everything you love is necessarily good for you. Hughes carefully comprises stories from childhood to a few years ago, navigating his struggle with alcohol with a parallel narrative on his relationship with music and performing. With a guitar in hand and performing original music, Hughes goes into his personal life, theatre, religion, and his love for music, shedding light on the bleak, enabling side of the gig industry. Far from a story of hitting rock bottom, Hughes shares how his ability to keep going and never miss a gig while heavily intoxicated was enough to be life threatening, but his new sobriety is joyous. Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker 3, 2 - 28 August (not 14 or 21), 2.05pm. Photo: David Shopland
6. All Aboard at Termination Station
Exploring reproductive rights through song, dance and self-reflection, All Aboard! At Termination Station aims to reclaim people’s choices and empower those with lived experiences of abortion. The autobiographical comedy cabaret theatre show derives from creative activist and theatre maker Lilly Burton’s personal experiences of abortion after a lack of education, understanding and loneliness at 19 years-old almost led her to miss the legal cut off due to the negative stigma surrounding the procedure. At a time where the pro-choice movement is being threatened on a global scale and 1 in 3 women will have an abortion before the age of 45 years old, this frank, funny and heartfelt performance demonstrates the vital importance of body autonomy and rejects the ‘victim’ status of those who have had an abortion. Pleasance Courtyard, Bunker One, 2 - 28 August (not 14 & 21), 3.30pm. Photo: Submitted
7. Optimistic: Elizabeth Holmes
Using real world material including newly released trial exhibits, interviews, and text messages from medical fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, this verbatim devised play explores the mind of the woman who falsely claimed her technology would revolutionise medicine. Defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars and even using her disastrous technology on real patients, Holmes claimed that a single drop of blood could be used for up to 800 blood tests – and people believed her. Following the story of the rise and fall of Holmes’ success, writer and performer Sarah Deller aims to portray the true life of Elizabeth Holmes, adopting her distinctive mannerisms and famously affected voice. ZOO Southside, Studio, 4 – 27 August (not 10 & 17), 6.55pm. Photo: Submitted
8. Tickbox 2
Tickbox 2 is a semi-autobiographical one woman play which raises issues around race, perception, identity and living up to expectations growing up as a person of colour in Glasgow in the 1970s. Switching between narrating and commenting with humour on her and her parents lives, and acting as a range of characters including her mother, Lubna details her parents move from a comfortable middle-class life in Lahore, Pakistan to a four storey, one-bedroom flat in Govan in Glasgow in the late 1960’s after her father was accepted to study a PhD at Strathclyde University. Tickbox 2 deals with the challenges they encountered with humour and emotion, from bereavement to balancing two cultures to explaining samosas to the casually racist neighbour. Pleasance Courtyard, The Green, Venue 33, 2 – 27 August (not 16&23), 5pm. Photo: Submitted