Shay Mace
Jack MacGregor’s upcoming play Prophets follows a Scottish researcher arriving on a remote British Overseas Territory in the South pacific, only to discover the island has been taken hold of by an enigmatic religious cult. Exploring themes of empire, faith, belief and folk religion, this dark psychological thriller will arrive at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this coming August. We caught up with playwright Jack MacGregor and director Fraser Scott to unpack the show’s weighty and fascinating themes over a pixelated pint.
You can catch Prophets at Roxyboxy, Assembly Roxy on August 5th – 31st at 17:45 (60 min). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay: Hi Jack and Fraser! Prophets explores the inteprlay between faith and cult, set on a remote and rocky outpost – tell us what made you decide to explore these themes, and what the audience can expect.
Jack: Hey Shay! I wanted to explore these ideas because I think we’re in an age increasingly defined by cults and cult-like thinking, alternative models of belief to organise your world around. I was fascinated by the ambiguity of British Overseas Territories – isolated pockets of colonial rule that have persisted well into the 21st century. They are the skeletal remains of Britain’s empire and are now primarily used for tax evasion, military bases, enforcing territorial claims, and blacksite prisons. These secretive dark-spots of the British state exist as rich settings for drama.
The play takes elements of folk horror classic ‘The Wicker Man’ (1973) and inverts them to explore distortions of missionary Christianity rather than celtic paganism. The cult in Prophets is predicated on a form of radical predestination – the belief that literally everything happens for a reason, every action is justified and preordained by God. What happens when you put that kind of power, that kind of certainty, on a tiny island of 48 people? Audiences can expect a dark, twisting psychological thriller that incorporates religious drama, folk horror, and asks big emotional questions about faith, responsibility, and why bad things really happen.
Shay: How has the creative process been of putting the show together? Give us an idea of the journey you’ve been on with it so far.
Jack: The process has been a difficult one. I think I really had my work cut out for me, picking a topic like this, digging into a place of real human darkness and trying to find the light, that was super difficult. I have been working on the script since 2023 and there’s a reason it’s taken so long, it’s been a huge task to refine what the play is saying, to make it less about the geopolitical and more about the personal.
That’s a huge issue with my writing that I’ve been critical of in the past: the people in the room matter more than the room, audiences come to see characters and not learn interesting facts they can get off wikipedia. The story is an invitation to an inner world of feelings and conflicts, not to learn something about British policy in the Indo-Pacific. This is really a play about Kerris, the researcher who travels to Saint John – why has she come? What does she want? What changes within her? Answering these questions has taken me a long time but it’s been worth it.
Shay: What will be the first thing the audience sees, feels, and hears as they enter the space?
Fraser: Prophets is a story about shadows, so the audience won’t see very much when they first walk in. It’s a play that unravels itself slowly, catching fragments as piece together the whole picture – our ambition is for a theatrical approach that reflects that. Our venue, the RoxyBoxy is also an intimate thrust space that perfectly fits the atmosphere of the play.
Shay: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?
Fraser: I try not to focus too much on an outcome in that way. My hope is that watching the play will be an exciting and surprising experience. I’m really keen to immerse audiences in the world of the play. Thematically, the play asks very grounded questions around faith, the power of choice, and the purpose of community; of course I hope audiences find something new to think about amongst those ideas, but ultimately our ambition is to create a really brilliant story and tell it well.
Shay: What journey has the show been on to find itself at EdFringe 2026?
Fraser: Jack and I started talking about Prophets in August 2025. Jack had written a first draft that I read, and we spoke about the Fringe being an exciting platform to debut the piece. In November 2025 we were able to share a short section of the play at Capital Theatres Open@TheStudio scratch night, and we began to develop the play properly. By the end of 2025 we’d decided we would take Prophets to the Fringe in 2026.
Jack: I should also say that we decided to do the Fringe with no money, no backers, no deal, nothing. We just wanted to put this show on and everyone who’s come onboard has done so knowing this is a real indie theatre effort. All of us, including our producer Leah Byrne, are freelancers so we couldn’t have made it this far without a lot of faith in the show, which I guess is appropriate.
Fraser: We were awarded the ART Award from Assembly, which was a significant boost to the feasibility of the Fringe, as well as the profile of the play, and it’s been brilliant working closely with the Assembly team as we gear up for August. We’ve been working really closely on the script for the last few months, which is a really rewarding experience because the play really reveals itself to you every time you revisit it. It might not be where you thought you would be when you start on Draft 1 Page 1, but I think that’s the benefit and joy of process.
Compared to other work we’re making, Prophets has had a very short journey to the stage but that’s made the process feel very exciting, and our work on it over the last year has had a real momentum behind it.
Shay: With EdFringe now just around the corner, what are you most excited for?
Jack: I’m so excited for Prophets to find an audience. The Fringe is a fantastic exchange of art and connections, there’s really nothing else that compares. I love all the food spots – Mosque Kitchen being the undisputed champion for me. I really treasure a chance to see international work coming to Scotland and to support plays by other Scottish companies. I would love for Prophets to have a good run at the Fringe, for it to connect with audiences who are interested in its darkness, its hope, its redemptive story of belief. I would love for it to have a life beyond the Edinburgh Fringe, at its best the festival is a platform for shows to go on and have a future they otherwise wouldn’t have. All of that is out of my power though. All I can do is write the best show I can and hope that people find it connects with them.
Shay: 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?
Kava – a psychoactive drink traditionally distilled and consumed across islands in the South Pacific. The fictional island of Saint John is a British settler colony which picks and chooses its tapestry of heritage. There’s not much to do on the island and getting drunk on kava allows temporary access to the far side of the veil.
A reminder, you can catch Prophets at Roxyboxy, Assembly Roxy on August 5th – 31st at 17:45 (60 min). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Roe McDonnell
