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.
Samuel Brewer, Chloe Palmer, and Aarian Mehrabani are the cofounders of FlawBored, a disability-led theatrical company whose debut play, It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure, is currently running at the Fringe. Brewer and Mehrabani also happen to be blind. That's part of the narrative of this hilarious and incisive play: a young blind man is hired as an influencer by a company under fire for ableism. He then uses his disability as a way to get money from his followers. Throughout, there is meta commentary taking aim at identity politics and wokeness.
Brewer, Palmer, and Mehrabani also star in the work. Their jokes are sharp, sparing no ideology, term, or convention from scrutiny and mockery. You may find yourself wincing with embarrassment as phrases you often say become the targets of collective ridicule—"I just want to acknowledge...", "This is an important conversation to have..." are called out for the empty platitudes that they are.
And beware, the actors do address the audience directly. A running gag about a disgruntled closed captioner shakes things up and opens the door (hilariously) to audience interactivity.
Besides the humor, there are tough, important questions at the show’s center. FlawBored confronts the audience with the knottiest questions about disability, representation, and virtue signaling. Both insightful and uproarious, it's a motherf**king pleasure, indeed.
It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure runs until August 27 at Underbelly Bristo Square. See what other shows Playbill recommends at this venue.
