Mountview at Edinburgh Fringe 2022

August is a particularly exciting time for theatre in the UK, when Edinburgh is taken over by its annual Fringe Festival, a celebration of arts and culture across hundreds of venues in the city. This year saw many Mountview alumni performing, working and creating at the festival in a wide array of exciting pieces.

Our very own Steve Griffin took over our Instagram for an action-packed day at the festival, taking in as much Mountview alumni work as possible and even catching up with some of them during the day. Watch the takeover here, and read on to hear more about what our graduates got up to during the festival, as well as those shows that made The Stage Best Shows of the Year.

At the Fringe

photo by Alex Brenner

Keith Ramsay won The Stage Edinburgh Award for his performance in Eve: All About Her, which was named as one of the publication’s best shows of the year. In the five-star review, Keith’s performance was described as never taking the “obvious or easy route. His performance style is engrossing – with every tilt of his head and twist of his torso informing the narrative. This is total theatre, cabaret-style, and Ramsay seems to drain every ounce of electricity from the spotlight”. Read the full article here.

Written and directed by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller, PRESS starred Kaia Hickson and Alexandra Clare, as two film producers frantically try to avoid public scrutiny after their Oscar-bait Civil War movie cast a white actor in a role meant for a Black actor.

Actor-musician Tonny Shim starred in Runesical, an interactive parody musical where the audience choose what happens next.

Tonny Shim in Runesical | photo by Damian Robertson

Cabaret extravaganza Definitely Maybe Actually Nevermind starred Crystal Bollix, exploring the pitfalls of chick-flicks and Colin Firth, produced by Sophie Kilgannon with fellow alum Lena Stahl on the keys.

Shortlisted for this year’s LET Fringe Award, Marissa Landy’s dark comedy A Non-Emergency reveals what actually takes place in the back of non-emergency ambulances and ran at theSpace.

Also at theSpace throughout August, head/lining is a profound, thrilling mix of music and storytelling diving into the mind of working-class lad’s battle with identity, written and performed by Charlie Heptinstall and Jordan El-Balawi,

Please, Feel Free to Share is a one-woman show about lies, likes and the blurring of the two, written by Rachel Causer and performed by Roísín Bevan, it ran at The Pleasance.

At the QueenDome, Eve Dickson starred in the 1970s physical comedy-thriller Speed Dial.

Sarah-Louise Young | An Evening Without Kate Bush

Associate directed by Keeley Lane and starring Harriet Waters, SheWolves is a play about forging friendships and the underestimated smartness of teens that ran at the Pleasance Courtyard and was featured among The Stage’s top shows of the Fringe, where it was described as having “undoubted sparkiness that is enormously appealing – just like its two heroines who are played with such arresting joie de vivre”. Read the full review here.

Also featured on The Stage list is playful romcom play Happy Meal, which starred Allie Daniel at Traverse Theatre and tells the story of an enduring teenage friendship formed in an online game.

BOGEYMAN was directed by Emily Aboud and produced by Grace Dickson, a thrilling ghost story that combines music, movement and history in the ultimate underdog story of resistance against the oppressor.

Sarah-Louise Young performed in both The Silent Treatment at Summerhall and An Evening Without Kate Bush at Assembly George Square, following its sold-out 2019 Fringe premiere. The Silent Treatment was featured on The Stage’s list of Fringe highlights and in the review was described as “surreal […] but no movement is wasted, no shadow underused and no note misconceived. The precision of Young’s performance is uncanny and yet she remains warm, connected and hugely entertaining”. Sarah-Louise has now been named on the Edinburgh Fringe Board of Directors, where she will represent performers and draw on the experience of her 17 years performing at the festival to improve conditions for artists.

At the festival in a different but all-important capacity, Aimee Olivia scoured the vast programme while scouting talent for the Women in Comedy Festival and The Frog & Bucket.

Thank you to the graduates who let us know about their work at the Fringe for this piece. Are you an alum with exciting news or updates for us? Get in touch, alumni@mountview.org.uk