REVIEW: I Was Never Here, Leo Lion, EdFringe 2026 ★★★★

Following the success of last year’s Help Me!!!!, Leo Lion’s latest game theatre offering takes ‘different every night’ to another level. Returning with his signature blend of comedy and sincerity, Lion offers his audience their greatest challenge yet: to save the world.

Somewhere between an escape room, a clown show, and a spy thriller spoof, Lion’s Agent X needs our help to defeat the nebulous Agency’s evil plans to wipe everyone’s memories. The only problem is that the Agency has already wiped HIS memory. Armed only with a clock ticking down the seconds towards the end of his show, a tempting big red memory-wiping button, and some key memory-prompting phrases, Agent X and the audience must search boxes of evidence for key cards that will disarm the memory bomb.

It really is a choose-your-own-adventure play – there are loads of evidence boxes scattered across the stage, and it’s up to the audience in what order to investigate them. Highlights of my performance were an audience member having to undergo a lengthy online verification process on his phone, anagram decoding, and multiple dance breaks – but the tantalising thought of all of the untouched boxes may well draw me back to catch another performance.

Lion is an endlessly charismatic performer with an easygoing and generous attitude towards crowdwork. It is impossible not to get swept up into Agent X’s mission, and I found myself leaping to my feet, screaming warnings, and belly-laughing throughout the performance. He creates real camaraderie in the audience – strangers assisting one another with technology and decoding, discussing theories, and shouting encouragement. The atmosphere in the room was one of the best I’ve experienced all Fringe, and when we saved the world (not to brag!) I became genuinely a little emotional. My only gripe was that the underlying theme of loss of identity was only lightly touched on, and I found myself wishing that Lion would have allowed us more time to explore this production’s emotional core.

Quirky, interactive, and above all, fun, I Was Never Here puts you at the centre of a spy thriller that will coax even the most introverted audience member into enjoying audience interaction. Leo Lion has firmly cemented his position as one of my favourite acts of the Fringe – I will never miss one of his shows, and you shouldn’t either!

Drink recommendation: Something fun and a bit out there, like a piña colada. Normal.

You can catch I Was Never Here at Studio at theSpace @ Niddry St from 7-25 Aug (not 16) at 22:20 (60 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.