REVIEW: Primal Scream, Ines Wurth Presents, EdFringe 2026 ★★

Entering Primal Scream at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the first thing you are handed is a programme that offers up a critical insight – the show you are about to watch is actually titled Primal Scream (Act One). This is not a fact listed clearly in the festival programme, nor is it a satisfying feeling to be surreptitiously sold half of a play.

Robin Hawdon’s stilting, exposition-heavy script offers little respite over an hour of personal unraveling for psychologist Bernard and probationer Sugar. At their court-mandated therapy session-cum-dissection, nothing is off the table, including a conveniently placed table knife.

A strong performance from established actor Neil Roberts brings a semblance of sense to proceedings, which meander around the duo’s stratified lives covering topics ranging from sexual abuse, to domestic violence, prospective reoffending, child loss, divorce, and more.

There are a surprising number of parallels between these two, of vastly different ages and circumstance. As it is revealed that Sugar is an aspiring opera star, and that Bernard has lost his love of music, the duo delve into one another’s lives and psyches in an attempt to find out just how much solace or salvation clinical psychology can provide either of them.

Talented opera singer Carly Paoli brings nuance and vigour to Sugar, whose character worries about being slotted into presumptions and stereotypes. It is Roberts that shines in his emotive moments to breathe vitality into the story however, presenting a clever façade of the man who appears to have it all.

The chemistry between the pair is palpable, yet the writing does not allow them to get more than surface-deep with either character, given one another spend this entire ‘first act’ explicating their circumstances, and only reach the cusp of depth in the piece’s closing moments, where an extended musical number chews up their remaining precious time as characters.

As a straight drama played mostly around two chairs, it is this dialogue we must cling to for intensity and progression. Yet, as we flutter between topics and are faced with blunt expository questions about each character, the initially natural performance style digresses into repetition, only broken by the aforementioned final break in format, and leaving without a satisfying finish.

Given there is much more to Bernard and Sugar’s stories to be told, it feels as though it may have been more appropriate to adapt a longer script into a shorter span, rather than give half of their story. Left on a veritable cliff-hanger with all the information about these characters, the denouement awaits, not to be seen on a Fringe stage.

Moments of connection, especially surrounding financial circumstances, AI-generated art, loss, and how to overcome those troubles, lie formally unresolved by the end of the hour, leaving only a dash of emotive resonance. While a play of this sort need not tie up its loose ends, it should at least be mid-knot if it wants to leave an audience feeling something.

Recommended Drink: For a show named after an iconic Scottish band, pair this with a neat and sharp whisky.

You can catch Primal Scream at Drawing Room at Assembly Rooms until August 30th from 15:25 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.