Author: Brett Herriot

Since completing training, Brett has enjoyed a varied career across the arts as an actor, writer, performer, producer, company manager, stage manager and arts critic. Brett embraces the arts with a passion in all its forms. Away from the world of theatre, Brett is a vegetarian, loves an occasional glass of wine, chatting with friends and travelling when time permits
Brett Herriot at the Festivals

Boobytrapped, The Fringe, Review

Brett Herriot

**** (4 stars)

“Intriguing and capturing”

Critically acclaimed No Tits Theatre company bring an intriguing and capturing body swap romcom to the 2026 festival. A night out in Gay club sees Kevin, a CIS man and Simon a trans meet hook up in a steamy encounter when Kevin realizes Simon’s trans status things take a transphobic path until a flash of lightening see’s Kevin and Simon swap bodies.

What follows is exploration of both men facing their fears, insecurities and prejudice in a world that is growing ever darker for our trans siblings. They are forced to work together to reverse the swap and along the way perhaps they can both learn something important about themselves and each other.

Boobytrapped is beautifully written two hander that embraces its themes with true passion and understanding of the various arguments that it explores blending some wonderfully judged comedy along with a stark reality of daily life for many in the transgender community.

Both performers turn in wonderfully emotive performances that are finely nuanced but also very real and they make the most of the intimate space. There are additional characters that are pre-recorded but the inclusion of the next-door neighbour as a live in the room voice over does jar a little but doesn’t detract from the overall quality of this sparkling piece of new LGBT+ writing.

Boobytrapped is at the very heart of the Fringe and what it stands for, theatre without constraints or boundaries and makes a very sobering remainder that no matter how far the journey has come for transgender equality there is still so much more to do. Adult, Truthful and a great addition to anyone’s Fringe Diary.

Boobytrapped, The Fringe, Space 2 at theSpace on the Mile Venue 39, Runs Until 29th  August for more information go to: boobytrapped | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Mary Woodward at the Festivals

Prophets, The Fringe, Review

Brett Herriot

**** (4 stars)

“A Gripping Piece of Theatre”

Another brilliant two-hander at Roxy Boxy, a container just outside Roxy itself.  A tribute to the exellence of the show came from an overheard comment afterwards – “you were gripped even though you could clearly hear the people outside: it simply didn’t matter…

It certainly was no effort at all to concentrate on Prophets.    Jack McGregor has written a gripping exploration of belief and its dark side, set on a fictional island in Polynesia, St John [not to be confused with the very real St John in the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean!].

A young woman has arrived on the island after a very long and complicated journey.  She is tired, and not particularly interested in the attempt at a friendly welcome offered by Kiwi-accented Joe.  She’s a paleoclimatologist, doesn’t respond positively to his comments about the weather – she’s not a meteorologist – and isn’t interested in joining him later for a beer in his accommodation just up the hill: all she wants is to rest.

Joe has seemed rather uneasy – his friendly overtures somehow ring false.   We begin to have concerns, too, as we witness the attempts our heroine, whose name I failed to write down, to find out about the history of the settlement of St John.  Documents are sealed off under the Official Secrets Act.  National security has strategies to protect the island.  But what about its inhabitants?  They are all descendants of the crew of a ship that landed on the island and promptly burned it, because they were never going to leave…

We learn a bit more about Joe and his visitor.  Joe was born on the island, went to work in New Zealand, but then came back to the island under rather mysterious circumstances.  She grew up in a small fishing community in Scotland but now lives and works in Glasgow.  She asks a lot of questions – increasingly about the new sections she finds in a bible in her accommodation, which talk about the Prophet and the miracles he works.   They were written by God, Joe tells her.

Joe’s elliptical utterances about the temple, the services held there, the things he’s seen, all intrigue her.  She has phone conversations with her partner back in Scotland in which she reveals her conviction that all is not well on the island: he tries to convince her that she’s imagining things and should leave well alone… 

Will she?  Is it all real, or a figment of her imagination, triggered by her own past history?

Prophets is a gripping piece of theatre, superbly acted by Rebecca Wilkie and man of many talents Xander Cowan, who plays everyone else, switching accents and persona with great ease.  In an age where the cult of personality is pervasive, the play raises questions about belief, imagination, control and manipulation, truth and reality…

Yet another brilliant play from an upcoming Scottish writer – is there no end to Scotland’s emerging talent?

It’ll be another sell-out: hurry, get your tickets before they’re all gone!

Prophets, The Fringe, Assembly Roxy (Roxy Boxy) Venue 139, Runs Until 31st August for more information go to: Prophets | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Mary Woodward at the Festivals

Bear Girl, The Fringe, Review

Brett Herriot

**** (4 stars)

“a brilliant exploration”

A young woman enters the stage and climbs into an all-enveloping bear costume.  Jake is dead, and she’s not handling it well.  She and Jake saw the costume in a – well, she didn’t call it a junk shop – and wondered whether it would ever be bought.  She’s got it now – the shop owner said Just take it, I’ve been trying to get rid of it for years…. No, she didn’t wash it, yes, it’s dusty and no, this isn’t normal for her and she’s not okay…

It looks as if this is going to be yet another “I’m grieving for my lost beloved, angry at the loss, my life will never be the same and somehow I’ll get through this and become a better, stronger person” sort of show.

It’s not.

Jake’s dead, but he keeps making his presence felt, and not just in the flashbacks which reveal his and Bear Girl’s history.  He comes across as some sort of demigod who raises his wife’s life out of the ordinary and fills it with magic and laughter – but was he?  Did he?  Really?? 

Rachel De Fontes gives a consummate performance as a grieving widow who can’t keep herself together and whose anger at her loss bursts out in the rage of an angry bear – bears don’t think: they do.  We are led to believe that this anger is ‘simply’ because she’s lost the love of her life, but as the show progresses we and Bear Girl come to understand things very differently – the rage she can’t even admit to herself is for something else entirely.

Jimmy Kavanagh is brilliant as Bear Girl’s Best Friend, Andy, who’s doing his utmost to be supportive but is reaching the end of his tether.  Jimmy is even more brilliant as Jake and the other ordinary and extraordinary characters in this narrative, switching accent and body language in a millisecond and remaining credible throughout.

Emery Schaffer’s play, directed superbly by Kate Stamoulis, never lets the dramatic tension flag.  It’s a brilliant exploration of grief, loneliness, frustration, thwarted ambition, love, friendship, and the kindness of strangers.  It’s also a powerful warning against allowing one’s self to be eclipsed and devalued while accepting other people at their face value and jumping into deep water without checking for hidden dangers…

Bear Girl is sure to be a sellout: hurry and get your ticket now!

Bear Girl, The Fringe, Assembly Roxy (Roxy Boxy) Venue 130 Runs until 31st August for more information and tickets go to: BearGirl | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Brett Herriot at the Festivals

Dear Evan Hansen, The Fringe, Review:

Brett Herriot

***** (5 stars)

“Stunningly Beautiful”

Edinburgh based Captivate Theatre have now become stalwarts of the Edinburgh Fringe over the last decade and 2026 sees the company reveal a new mature side to their program of shows as they bring the debut production of the critically acclaimed smash hit musical “Dear Evan Hansen” to Fringe in a production that’s both stunningly beautiful and powerfully performed by the best ensemble cast that are west end stars one and all.

Dear Evan Hansen, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book by Steven Levenson is a generational redefining show that tells the Story of Evan Hanson a high school senior with social anxiety who invents a role for himself in a tragedy that has shaken his town to the core. It’s an emotional and painful tale of those left behind following a suicide as well how easy it is for the smallest of lies to snowball into a situation that can take anyone of us to the edge.

Captivate Artistic Director Sally Lyall has put together the most extraordinarily talented ensemble casts on this year’s Fringe with all the main characters alternating the lead roles across the run and there is not a weak link between them, this is most flawless set of performances you will see at the festival. Special mention must go to Alex Fraser as “Evan” who delivers a performance that comes from the heart, he imbues Evan with heart wrenching vulnerability that’s totally capturing to watch. The same is true of Hazel Beattie as Evan’s mother Heidi with powerhouse vocals and an utterly breath-taking acting ability that sees her every emotion soar around the ballroom this is a actor of pure west end caliber.

Lyall has brought a production that’s truly stripped back with the professional productions virtual elements removed and replaced by inventive use of a simple set and polished choreography from Danielle Logan who clever weaves American sign language throughout the show. The Cherry on this spectacular is musical director Emily Paterson’s eight strong pit band.

Emotional, powerful and beautifully performed this is the sleeper hit of the 2026 Fringe Festival and a real tribute to the power of musical theatre to not only entertain but educate Captivate Theatre have harnessed the truth heart of this musical a deliver a show which will linger long in the memory of all who see it! This is one show which will sell out and deservedly so.

Dear Evan Hansen, Assembly Rooms, Ball Room Venue 20, Runs until 16th August for more information and tickets go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/dear-evan-hansen

Brett Herriot at the Festivals

Acts of Contrition, The Fringe, Review:

Brett Herriot

**** (4 stars)

“Powerfully moving”

How does a boy from Glasgow’s east end brought up in the devout catholic faith go on to become an acclaimed Drag Queen, “Bonnie Oui Laddie” and take Spain’s drag scene by storm? Jon Gerrard McFaulds (JG) Acts of Contrition his autobiographical play comes to the Fringe and delivers a comedy laden and powerfully moving exploration of that journey that sees him confront not only the reality his forced religious belief has on his life but also surviving a truly shocking sexual assault.

Strangely booked into a lunch time slot at 1pm in one of the Fringes longest running venues, The Hill Street Theatre, it’s a gripping hour of well staged and performed drama that played to a pack auditorium of the intimate Dunedin Theatre.

McFaulds turns in a polished and emotionally truthful performance blending the drag comedy elements with deeply personal darkest moments of his life as he discovers not only himself but the world around him coming to the truth that he must be who and what he is on his own terms.

Well directed and beautifully paced it’s a gripping hour of one man’s journey through life and its highly stimulating to see how Catholicism shaped his youth but no longer shapes his future and the reality that we are indeed all products of our life journey is sobering, for all of us there are indeed tears amongst the laughter as we make our way through life.

Acts of Contrition may well be suited to a later slot in the Fringe Day, However it does have a feel of the legendary lunch time sessions, Play, Pie and Pint just minus the two latter elements. It is however a quality hour of drama that may well have life beyond the end the festival. Wonderful stuff indeed.

Acts of Contrition, Dunedin Theatre at Braw Venues @ Hill Street Theatre, Runs until 30th August for more information and tickets go to: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/acts-of-contrition