The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with nearly 3,500 shows. This year, Playbill is in Edinburgh for the entire month in August for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
As part of our Edinburgh Fringe coverage, Playbill is seeing a whole lotta shows—and we're sharing which ones you absolutely must see if you're only at the Fringe for a short amount of time. Consider these Playbill Picks a friendly, opinionated guide as you try to choose a show at the festival.
We’ll Have Nun of It features a quintet of young female students living and studying in a convent in the 1960s. We follow them through a semester of school, while they work together through the turbulence confronting them both in and out of school. The music (written by Finola Southgate and played onstage by the actors), is folky, catchy, and smartly written.
The issues facing these characters feel gratifyingly nuanced. For instance, one character, Caragh (Michaela Murphy) anxiously awaits her brother’s engagement, fearing she will have to return to a life on a farm she resents.
As well as being capable singers, the cast also showcase their seemingly prodigious musical talent, trading instruments freely—one character even swaps an accordion for a keyboard mid-song. The many musical instruments onstage become, well, instruments of their liberation. At one point Eliza (Angel Lema), shows off her electric bass to the others as if it were a feminist magazine.
In one powerful moment, Mary (Juliette Artigala) and Eliza lean in for a long-awaited kiss, while playing together on one keyboard. The audience is so invested that when their kiss is interrupted, an audible sigh is heard in the house.
The pop score of We'll Have Nun of It is reminiscent of Spring Awakening, which is appropriate for this story of teenage yearning. Some songs will make you want to sing and dance along; others are more somber and reflective (one dance hall number particularly made me marvel at the compositional talent). Like the young characters in the musical, We'll Have Nun It has great potential for deeper exploration—I can't wait to one day see the full-length version.
We'll Have Nun of It currently runs at Underbelly Cowgate until August 27. Find out what other shows Playbill recommends at this venue.
