REVIEW: What Happens in the Dark, Identity Crisis Productions, EdFringe 2026 ★★★★

The epitome of farce, perfected into slapstick glory. 

What Happens in the Dark follows married couple Alan and Sharon, having gotten home from a night out, ready to go to bed, when a power cut sparks life changing revelations. The show inverts light, meaning when in the stage directions the lights are on, they are actually off when live onstage, and vice versa, allowing the audience to bask in the slapstick joy of people stumbling around in the dark.

Revelations are revealed, a burglar and drug dealer break in, and no one can tell who is who. What Happens in the Dark creates their own bisexual comedy of errors. 

This show is expertly written and performed, with every actor proving themselves as masters of comedic timing. I also want to shine a light on the remarkable skill to simply not look towards sounds without looking towards each other when moving around in the ‘dark’.

The performers had this distant look in their eyes as they looked into the nothingness of darkness, despite the audience seeing every moment, which truly made you believe they were in complete darkness. It felt like wearing hyper-advanced infrared glasses, getting the unique experience of seeing exactly what goes on when the lights go out, in full detail, and how people act in that environment. I was thoroughly immersed. 

The way this play explored sexuality was so delightfully playful, as well as being incredibly loving of the queer community. Despite Alan’s maligned act, cheating on his wife with a man, Alan’s bisexuality is never used as a joke. Amongst the chaotic comedy of everything else going on, bisexuality is misunderstood by characters, but never mocked, and the show succeeds in educating the characters in their misunderstanding.

The joke is that they don’t know the facts, not the facts being used as a punchline, which was honestly refreshing. Sometimes the conversations about bisexuality verged on over-explanation, stating the obvious in a way that felt as if the characters, and to some extent the audience, had never even heard of the concept before, but the love and support towards the queer characters in a show that was not wholly about their queer existence was beautifully represented.

Where I felt the plot faltered was a handful of moments towards the beginning, where I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief as conversations were happening in, what the characters were experiencing as, complete darkness. I also found myself wishing that Alan’s lover, played by Eric Ramos, had been split into two characters. The lover’s reasoning for burgling the house – to get back at Alan for ending the affair – felt as if it just existed to bypass the need for an additional actor, and it would have been nice to have seen both characters developed further. 

Identity Crisis productions could just be the queer Mischief theatre, with comedic perfection that had me laughing throughout. I look forward to seeing more new work from them. 

Recommended Drink: The glass of water you keep by your bedside, to wash down your viagra, or your psychedelic drugs, make sure not to get those confused. 

Catch What Happens in the Dark at theSpace @ Niddry St from August 7th to 28th (not 16th or 23rd) at Various Times (50 mins) Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.