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**** (4 stars)       

“Weaves there Magic Well!”

How rare is it that an audience is, in its entirety, joining the cast in singing a gentle melody almost the instant the show has begun?  What show begins with a gentle song People die all the time…?

Maddie and Marcus Rice weave their magic around us from the very first moments of Goodbye Dandelion… It’s mostly a story, a story about life, death, and friendship, Maddie tells us: but it rings so true it doesn’t feel like a story at all.  Interestingly, it’s my second Fringe show this season that centres around assisted death.  Like the first [After Party at the Traverse] it focuses first on the very human reactions of people when they learn someone wants to be assisted to die, rather than the reasons why someone might wish to be helped to end their life.

People die all the time – yes, but life expectancy has increased over the centuries, and with improvements in healthcare, death is seen more as a disaster than a consummation devoutly to be wished…. Maddie has, after a shaky start, become friends with the amazing 87-year-old Darcy – full of life, vigour, and a very earthy sense of humour.  We learn a fair amount about Darcy and her eventful life: we also learn about Maddie and her attempts to make something more positive of her own, which is okay but nothing outstandingly wonderful or satisfying.  Maddy is shocked when Darcy, having sworn her to silence, reveals that she is planning to end her life…

People die all the time…so why is it so hard to accept that someone might have had enough of life, even when, to an outsider, they still have so much going for them?  Are people afraid to die because they have never really lived?  Is it really being a good friend to try to keep someone alive when they are ready and willing to die?

Marcus has been continually reminding us that people die all the time – even at one point singing us a list of well-known names of dead people from history to the present day.  We learn a lot of facts about dandelions and why Darcy is so fond of them; we learn to sing her favourite song and become attached to her cat, Major Minor.  We encounter the Evil Nieces.  We hear, very subtly, the beginning of Darcy’s statement that she is of sound mind and wishes to end her life.  We learn of Marcus’s past health problems and delight in his and Maddy’s wonderfully irreverent but deeply caring sibling relationship [would that I had had such a one…]

People die all the time might lead you to imagine that Goodbye Dandelion is a morbidly woeful show – nothing could be further from the truth!  It’s crackling with life, full of vigour, and crammed with laughter.  Yes, there are some tears, and rightly so – tears for someone who has loved much, is eminently loveable, and is no longer with us on earth: but who has not been afraid to live life to the full, and so is not afraid to die.  There’s also deep affection for Maddie and Marcus, who’ve been brave enough to share the challenges of their own lives with us. 

Small wonder there was a standing ovation at the end of the show!  The house was packed: this is obviously going to be one of the total sell-out shows this Fringe, so hurry and get your tickets before they’re all gone…

Goodbye Dandelion, The Fringe, Underbelly, Cowgate (Belly Dancer) Venue 61, Runs until 30^th August for more information go to: Goodbye Dandelion | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

***** (5 stars)

“Deeply Moving”

It’s a good job there’s a café at Holyrood.  I staggered out of this installation deeply moved, with my head whirling – I have to sit and recover here, and try to find words to express my feelings.

Before entering the installation, I didn’t know that 11,824 children were ‘looked after’ in 2025; that 48% of registered care homes for children are run for profit; nor that care costs are £6,100 or more PER WEEK PER CHILD.

Nor did I have any personal experience of being in care: even now, I can only have an inkling.  What I experienced was in some small measure the arbitrary, convoluted, jargon-filled and often uncaring ‘care’ system for children and young people – both physically, in being taken through a number of different rooms [one particularly uncomfortable to be in for any time] and aurally, in listening to the words of Brian, someone working with and within the care system, and Kayla, who’s been in care for the past eleven years, being first taken into care when she was only five years old.

It’s fascinating to contrast the language each of them uses: Brian comes over as kind and caring at first but it becomes obvious that he’s process- and jargon-orientated.  Does he even see Kayla as a person?  He’s forever telling her off, shutting her up, endeavouring to keep me, the visitor, on the straight and narrow.  Kayla, on the other hand, is desperately trying to be heard as a real human being with feelings and opinions:  her comments give a totally different picture of the reality of the care system.

Woven in between the comments and instructions are the voices of many other people with experience of the care system in Scotland.  They are part of Caring Scotland, a three-year listening project led by acclaimed playwright Nicola McCartney documenting and recording the lives of Care Experienced people in Scotland.  Kayla and Brian are brilliantly and memorably voiced by Genna Allan and Scott Kyle.  

I’m not sure whether they also voice the many other contributions we hear – poems, songs, and spoken comments.  I rather hope that these are in the voices of the original contributors, but whether they are or aren’t, together they make an increasingly moving and unforgettable picture of real people, with real feelings, and real lives, all desperately hoping to be heard – You can’t just bin me: I’m me.

These are real human beings, all wanting to be seen, to be heard, to be loved: not just labelled as ‘someone who’s in/ been in Care’.

In 2020 the Scottish Government made The Promise that all children in Scotland would grow up loved, safe, and respected.  The Promise is supposed to be fully implemented by 2030.

Come and listen to One Hundred Voices and see how likely you think this is to happen…

One Hundred Voices, The Fringe, Main Hall at the Scottish Parliament, Venue 511, Runs until 28^th August. For more information go to: One Hundred Voices | Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This National Theatre of Scotland Production will then tour Scotland visiting Citizens Theatre Glasgow, Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries, Millennium Centre Stranraer, Reid Hall Forfar and Rothes Halls, Glenrothes.

**** (4 stars)

“A Brilliant Show!”

Oh my gosh this is a brilliant show, sheer delight from start to finish!

Wordless, indeed, but not soundless – there’s a constant stream of burbling, a little bit of singing, and a mind-boggling array of sound effects as our three performers weave their way through an ever-changing succession of scenarios.

The young girl in front of me was in fits of laughter from the start, as two of the three performers from the Lang Spot community arts centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, attempt to co-ordinate their explosive first entry on to the stage.  I ran out of paper in my notebook as I tried to keep track of the multiplicity of scenes, incidents, and encounters between the three characters.

The imagination, invention and artistry are simply superb; the expressive faces and bodies awesome; the virtually non-stop transformations mind-boggling – it’s a real treat for anyone who enjoys the absurd, the rib-tickling, the Just Plain Silly…

So many characters, human and non-human alike; so much acute observation to create them.  There were some wonderful birds, a couple of really excitable dogs, a sheep; at least one bicycle, a bus, a plane, an evil mad scientist, a truly terrifying teacher, and a number of very recognisable [and some very objectionable] school pupils.  There’s even a brisk canter around Edinburgh in August…

The two energetic young men who opened the show gave way to a very old lady, who hobbled her way around the stage with her [invisible] zimmer frame and had to put in her false teeth before she could start to do anything.  This seemed somewhat random – until the final seconds of the show, where everything became crystal clear.  On the way we visited a school [many times] and had a wonderfully kaleidoscopic journey through all manner of scenarios both real and [we hope] very well imagined.

I tried but failed to find the names of the three performers, and I’d love to know how they and their tech person came together, and how they brought their show to Edinburgh.  Pity.

Never mind: they are utterly wonderful and you really shouldn’t miss them!  I was laughing most of the way through, and the rest of the audience, adults and kids alike, were held spellbound by the cast’s skill and artistry, flexibility and sheer all-embracing talent.  The finale is both heart-warming and poetic justice – I’m so very happy for the heroine of the piece, and absolutely enchanted with the final-moment reveal that brings us full circle and sends us out satisfied and very, very happy.

A lovely start to my day!

Shhh! (A wordless comedy), The Fringe, The Lounge, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Runs until 31^st August for more information go to: Shhh! (A Wordless Comedy) | Edinburgh Festival Fringe