Jake Mace
Amelia Rodger’s upcoming debut EdFringe show Jumper Bumps explores a woman’s right to choose, coercive relationships and female friendship. In the show we follow two best friends divided with very different views of motherhood. We caught up with Amelia for a pixelated pint to find out more about what inspired the show.
You can catch Jumper Bumps from 30th July to 24th August (not the 12th or 19th) at Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower (Ruby) from 16:20 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Jake: Hi Amelia! We last caught up with you when you were part of the cast of PALS at EdFringe last year, tell us what you’ve been up to since then.
Amelia: Hi Jake! We did, it feels like so long ago. Nothing overly exciting to be honest, I’ve been having to put more attention into my muggle life than my acting one as of late but I’m very excited to be returning to the Fringe this summer albeit not in PALS.
Redrafting Jumper Bumps has taken up the majority of my brain space the last few months and I’m not going to lie, I could of cried with relief when Emma said the latest draft was great and rehearsal ready. I’ve enjoyed writing it but I’m definitely looking forward to solely focusing on the performing and excited to get into the rehearsal room and stuck in!
Jake: Your new show Jumper Bumps explores a woman’s right to choose, coercive relationships and female friendship – tell us what inspired you to create a show looking at those themes and what you’ve found out along the way.
Amelia: How long have you got? In full transparency Jumper Bumps is personal; the story and both characters are based on me, events that have happened to me and where I’ve found myself at different stages in my life. I have obviously added to and dramatised aspects but they say ‘write what you know’ and so I did. It wasn’t one thing that inspired this, my reality intertwined with the women in my life stories were the starting point. Certain elements might seem like ‘hot topics’ but they’re not, what I explore in the play has been happening and relevant for years; it’s life.
It was never really my intention for this to go public but once I’d shared the first draft with Emma and she told me she’d love to produce it I felt I sort of owed it to all the past versions of myself, the girl who felt she didn’t have a voice or a place in the world, to share this story.
Society still has such a long way to go in awarding woman equality, it saddens and frustrates me. The themes in this play are still so prevalent today and I would like a chance to shine a light on them candidly and I really hope that this story resonates and encourages conversations. I want to break down the shame surrounding what I explore in the play, shame thrives off silence so that’s partly what inspired this, let’s unapologetically shout it all from the roof tops. Humans deserve autonomy, the fact I even have to voice that sentence in 2025 makes me want to scream.
Writing this play has definitely taken me on a journey personally, it was born initially in a three day brain dump that was more of a cathartic release than anything else but in the redrafting I’ve been able to step away from these characters and turn them into women in their own right. I’ve enjoyed exploring the complexities of finding yourself, the lows of coercive relationships the pain and joy of growing into someone new but I think the biggest revelation for me is just how amazing and important platonic love is; how beautiful female friendships are. This is a love letter to the women who have raised me, known me, loved me, inspired me – they all live within these characters too. I’ve loved looking at things that we was women are told are weaknesses and turning them into these character’s strengths. I’ve fallen in love with Eris and Atlanta and I really hope audiences do too.
Jake: Tell us about what the audience can expect coming into the show, and what they might not expect about the show.
Amelia: The audience can expect to be taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. This play is fun and it’s silly and it’s light but it does explore often taboo themes and I think the audience might not be expecting just where Jumper Bumps takes you. They can expect to deep dive into the honest and vulnerable conversations women have with their friends and be thrown right into the middle of turbulently emotional situations. I think the audience can expect all the fun and the humor but I don’t think they’ll necessarily expect the more emotionally charged elements in the play.
Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Amelia: I want them to feel seen, heard and understood. This is for anyone who has ever felt like they’ve lost who they are or who have never quite known who they are and where they fit in the world. I want this play to be a big fat hug to all the girls who have had their heart broken, who have found themselves in situations or relationships they’ve felt stuck in or who have just not had a clue who they are. If it doesn’t personally resonate then I hope the audience are educated in some way; whether that’s on how to spot the subtler signs of coercive relationships, feel more confident in calling out peoples bullshit or just feel more confident in advocating for themselves. I want this play to make people feel uplifted. This isn’t just a play for women, I really hope men come and see this and learn from the female perspective too.
Jake: With Edinburgh Fringe 2025 just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Amelia: Being in front of a live audience. I’m equal parts bricking it and buzzing for it. The connection you get from the audience especially an Edinburgh Fringe audience is electric and this is such an intimate play I’m really excited to invite people into these characters world.
Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?
Amelia: Jumper Bumps would be a porn star martini, sweet, fun and on the edge of womanhood; not super sophisticated but a martini nonetheless and if you have enough of them you’re guaranteed a giggle.
A reminder, you can catch Jumper Bumps from 30th July to 24th August (not the 12th or 19th) at Gilded Balloon Appleton Tower (Ruby) from 16:20 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
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