Taking the risk: The queer Fringe shows doing something different
Pure Life Plus’s Brendon Ludlow recommends some queer shows making their mark at this year’s Fringe
Of course, Edinburgh Fringe wouldn’t be Fringe without taking a chance.
Some of the greatest experiences happen when you walk into a room knowing very little and leave thinking: what the hell did I just witness and where has this been all my life?
Among thousands of productions fighting for attention, queer artists continue to create work that refuses to sit neatly inside one box. This year, some of my favourite discoveries have been the shows offering fresh voices, unusual formats and completely different ways of putting queer lives, stories and experiences on stage.
Hugo’s Rainbow Show brings drag into the world of children’s theatre, creating an inclusive, interactive space filled with colour, silliness and enough humour to keep the adults entertained too. It’s queer joy for younger audiences without ever talking down to them, demonstrating that queer visibility doesn’t always need to arrive carrying a political sledgehammer.
Queer Diary looks backwards to move forwards, using real teenage diaries and rotating performers to create something funny, vulnerable and wonderfully communal. It feels less like watching somebody else’s story and more like being invited into a queer space where our awkward younger selves are finally celebrated.
A Gay Masseur’s Guide to Happy Endings takes a completely different route. This intimate solo show explores sex work, consent and queer experience with the warmth and honesty of a conversation with your best friend the morning after the night before. It’s personal, sex-positive and refreshingly matter-of-fact about parts of queer life theatre can sometimes sanitise.
Cruising is another reminder that queer relationships on stage can be complicated, messy and beautifully human. This smart two-person show explores open relationships and the cruise industry while weaving in climate change, trauma and the complexities of queer connection. Its simple staging, strong writing and natural performances allow the audience to lean into something surprisingly layered.
Bottoming For Jesus (pictured above) takes queerness, Christianity, shame and self-acceptance and throws them together in a clever and deeply reflective work. Drawing on experiences of the Mormon Church, it examines what happens when religious teachings collide with queer identity and the blame and shame that can follow you long after you’ve supposedly left them behind. There are laughs, a few definite ‘ouch’ moments and a powerful exploration of what it means to stop apologising for your authentic self.
For something completely different again Flamenco Oh! takes tradition and gives it a fresh pulse. Exceptional flamenco dancing, powerhouse live vocals and musicianship collide with humour and contemporary Spanish culture. The guitar almost becomes another performer, while the combination of traditional and modern influences makes something familiar feel unexpectedly new.
Then Mega Squirt: Fully Loaded comes along and blows the doors off conventional musical comedy. Part concert, part sketch show and part queer fever dream, it combines exceptional vocals, songs, characters and modern queer observations into something I genuinely hadn’t seen before.
And if subtlety has completely left the building, there’s Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody. Fast, filthy, musical and unapologetically gay, it throws excellent vocals, rapid-fire jokes, ice-hockey ridiculousness and a whole lot of gay shit onto the stage. Better still, you don’t need to know the source material to play along.
That’s the joy of Fringe: discovery.
See the big names, absolutely. But leave gaps in the schedule. Pick the strange title. See the unfamiliar performer. Listen when somebody in a queue tells you about the brilliant thing they saw in a tiny room yesterday.
With thousands of shows competing for your attention, playing it safe might actually be the biggest risk of all.
Picture: Max Benedict.
Related articles
This is a supported article written by Pure Life Plus.