REVIEW: Lady Bolognese: Class War, Edfringe 2026 ★★★★

These lunch ladies are mean and I like it. In a Bunker at Pleasance Courtyard you find yourself back in school held captive by lunch ladies Veronica and Barbara.

A truly bizarre and aggressively funny clown show, Lady Bolognese share their passion for school dinners (and their disgust at pack lunches) in a fun-house mirror version of a classroom where logic is continuously abstracted and the whole audience is fair game for class participation.

Do you remember your school dinners fondly? This is a loving, if slightly perturbed, homage to the oft overlooked lunch lady. Clown duo Lady Bolognese are diabolically funny, masterfully leading the audience through the strange rules of their world and ruthlessly, and hilariously, mocking those brave enough to speak up.

They portray these absurd, cartoonish characters with such vigor and conviction that even the gross and macabre aspects of the show are profoundly silly and enjoyable. They encourage the audience to respond to their questions, upping the ante over the course of the show and continuously proving it to be worth the classes’ while to participate. Every response allows for a new hilarity to unfold, for the dinner ladies to draw us further into the world of the show. Veronica leers over the audience with her gruff snarling voice, whilst Barbara croons around the room. Together they are a deeply compelling force of entertainment.

There are tonal shifts throughout as the narrative crescendos. This is the lunch ladies’ last day and they want to, finally, see what happens after 3pm. It becomes easy to find the two oddly endearing, if fiendish, as they show their passion for the job and their odd attachment to this class in particular. Excellent physical comedy punctuates the witty dialogue and leaves very little space for silence in the room. The audience fell hook, line, and sinker into the duo’s hands as soon as they revealed themselves onstage, lapping up every gag.

The audience pieces together the world they now inhabit, where the lunch ladies have never seen a ‘mummy’ before, and each audience member is now a school student and frequenter of the cafeteria. This clown show has a surprising amount of lore that only furthers it’s ridiculousness. Such absurdity can only be expected of two characters who have trapped a teacher in an hourglass and dream of seeing a lollipop lady.

This thoroughly enjoyable performance is made larger than life by comical props, effective set dressing, dynamic lighting, and a curiously trance-like portion of the show where a musical number takes the fore. Lady Bolognese do an excellent job of making their performance feel vibrant and enormous even in a small space. Honestly, in such an intimate venue, this may be the ideal setting to experience this show where the performers are very sensitive to the pleasure of the audience.

Should you wish to be completely baffled and still have a great time, this is the show for you. It is a show that feels as though it can reach out and grab you (and occasionally does), as these clowns bully and mock the ‘students’, much to the audience’s delight.With elements of bouffon in these characters, it is best to experience it close up and open minded, but don’t be deterred! Lady Bolognese: Class War is fiendishly funny, and incredibly bizarre. Lady Bolognese are certainly a clown duo to return to, they had the audience eating out of the palm of their hands.

Recommended drink: Gravy in a martini glass, cocktail sausage on the side. I feel this is suitably strange and oddly enjoyable, just like the show.

Catch Lady Bolognese: Class War from 5th to 30th August at Bunker 3 at Pleasance Courtyard 23:00-00:00 (1hr). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Box Office.