Isobel Jacob
As we enter TechCube 0 at Summerhall, performers Alice Yorke and Scott R. Sheppard are setting a long dinner table with some items you may expect – candles, a bread basket, even a Christmas tree (although that’s not usually on the table) – and some you definitely wouldn’t – a basket ball, a bike helmet, a top hat, a record player. They industriously prepare, placing each item with concentration and exactness, accompanied by strumming guitar and an insistent drum beat. They both wear eclectic costumes, their waistcoats, bow-ties and red slippers seeming almost Victorian yet juxtaposing trainers and elasticated white trousers. Eventually, In the Mood by Robert Plant plays, creating a nostalgic 80s sweetness that frames the cheeky and preoccupied atmosphere of Sheppard and Yorke’s set up.
Lightning Rod Special return to the Fringe after their 2018 Fringe First win with this a playful piece of theatre. Lions blends the archetypal with the awkward, the absurd with the highly naturalistic. Directed by Sarah Blush, there are affectionately mocking tropes of Dickens colliding with Agatha Christie-like detective stories and then, occasionally and suddenly personal moments of the actors’ real thoughts and experiences told with vulnerable simplicity. Lions is full of the unexpected: whether it’s breaking into Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights or sudden snowstorms, Lightning Rod Special have created a poignant deep dive into fatherhood and letting go in this self-described “part clown show and part deconstructed eulogy”.
We are told that both Sheppard and Yorke’s fathers have passed away. And so, it’s a play eulogising them. A play about grief, and the ways we attempt to look back on a person’s life. Essentially, the idea is that the pair are sorting through their dead fathers’ belongings. This includes trying to work out the password for Yorke’s dad’s laptop. They are swamped with the seemingly never-ending to-do list they’ve been landed with as those with the most responsibility to sort everything out, to make sure everything is handled properly and respectfully.
Both Sheppard and Yorke are energetic and thoughtful in their performances. Their comic timing is just fabulous. There is an exciting inventiveness and spontaneity in how they engage with each other and the audience that makes this feel like an extremely fresh piece of theatre. As they each shift from huge heightened scenes of absurdity, parody and physical theatre, to smaller, subtle scenes of genuine emotional intimacy, they showcase how tuned in to each other they are as a double act: it is wonderfully satisfying to watch their awareness of their onstage partner, and this electric chemistry only pulls us deeper into this constantly moving portrait of loss, responsibility and memory.
Both the sound design by Johnny Gasper and lighting by Masha Tsimring is evocative and creative, propelling the show forwards with snappy transitions. While the pace of Lions is largely fantastic, with a constant forwards momentum, I found the penultimate scenes dragged a little as they built up to the climactic (and fantastically moving) ending. I wonder if Lightning Rod Special could have been bolder, and pushed the eclecticness and jam-packed atmosphere of Lions even further, leaving the stripped-back-ness until the very final scene, when it really did pack an emotional punch.
Regardless, this is a thrilling, hilarious and validating portrayal of Lightning Rod Special’s individual experiences of their fathers dying. Lions somehow manages to capture a unique and yet comfortingly universal presentation of how we honour those who have passed away, and what it really matters that we remember. Its strange miscellaneousness becomes a precisely crafted and heartwarming piece of work that I would urge everyone to see if you can. I hope it returns to the UK after EdFringe is over.
Recommended Drink: A peaty, smoky whisky to warm your cockles of your heart (and give you a good laugh while you’re at it).
Performances of Lions have now concluded at EdFringe 2026.
Oli Fuller
Pequod Compagnia
