Tom Clayton
A darkly funny and heavy hitting commentary on the gun laws and regulations in America. The Second Best School Shooting is a brilliant play that highlights the lives of two girls that experienced a shooting (or an incident depending who you ask) and how even the ‘smaller’ events have the biggest impact on peoples’ lives.
Off the back of a shooting in their school two friends are hanging out afterwards discussing what just happened in both of their school and the one down the road. The key difference between the two is the other school had actual fatalities and at theirs no one died. As reactions escalate, the responses grow further apart between the girls and this leads to what could potentially end in disaster or crisis.
The show was written by a former American public school teacher and developed in partnership with hundreds of teachers, students and survivors. This comes through in the writing, jokes and complex nature of PTSD and generational trauma of growing up in America, where there is a possibility of gun violence in any space you may exist in. There are clever small reminders throughout, including an extreme reaction to a pen pot falling over.
The acting and two female leads are brilliant and bring to life the emotion and comedy simultaneously. Parker wants to pretend nothing has happened, whilst Ava sees the incident as a way in to having a ‘thing’, Ava is despondent about her future given the many crises surrounding her. The opposing reactions from the girls show that trauma effects people in all sorts of ways, never knowing how to process what’s happened, struggling to communicate the thoughts and feelings that is racing through them. This causes a block between them as neither understands why the other is being like they are.
It’s an interesting show to be in the audience given growing up in Britain we have (thankfully) limited gun violence – a flyer handed out after the show highlights this, with gun homicides per 100,000 people at 5.54% in the US, and 0.04% in the UK. There’s a relief in our oblivion to the trauma the girls express on stage. A few Americanisms didn’t always translate, but given the specific nature of the show this be forgiven.
Ultimately this is a thought-provoking, timely reminder of what is happening across the pond. This show is world premiering at the Fringe, so looking forward to seeing where it goes next.
Recommended Drink: The stolen vodka from your parents cupboard, to hide away and keep secret. Only acknowledging if someone says something to you.
Performances of The Second Best School Shooting have now concluded at EdFringe 2026.
Isobel Jacob
Lola Rose Wood
Salvador Kent
