SAME
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★★
“honest, powerful, and true — and, perhaps most importantly, hopeful”
Many men carry complicated maps of their fathers in their hearts — some routes well-trodden, others broken off mid-journey. In Same, two best mates, James and Lewis, wrestle with the weight of those inherited paths. Do the sins of the father echo through the son? Can a pattern be broken before it repeats? Are the families we are born into the cards we’re dealt… or the ones we would ever truly choose?
Here we meet four characters, all adrift: fathers who have vanished or moved on, mothers who drown their sorrows in drink and drown their lives in a sea of overdue bills, a letter left unopened — the kind that can change a life, or slip silently into dust. Each of them searches for a way forward, a way out, a way home.
This is a finely wrought work, rooted in a subject that demands to be voiced. It is rare these days to see a story that examines male fragility alongside male resilience, one that does not flinch from the emotional weather of men. But Same does more than stage a drama — it holds up a mirror to its audience. It quietly asks: Are you struggling? Are you okay? Do you need someone to talk to? It is a hand extended, not just a curtain lifted.
The piece is still at the beginning of its journey. It probably will be longer or develop some second half that brings the audience into its script and onto its stage. There is much to cherish: the solid ensemble of Brandon Kimaryo, Jason Avlonitis, Miles Dunkley, and Aimee Samara; the vision of creators Francesca Di Cesare and Aimee Samara; the script by Aimee Samara; and a hauntingly beautiful score by Concerto Main, which shapes the emotional spine of the work. Same is honest, powerful, and true — and, perhaps most importantly, hopeful.
Performed in the Olive Studio at Greenside George Street — an intimate, low-ceilinged space that feels like a warm held breath. The lighting could benefit from a designer’s touch to refocus and illuminate the actors’ faces and the delicate intention of the work. Yet, somehow, the story glows from within, finding its own light.
Same may not be your story. You may not leave feeling the same as your neighbour. But when I saw it, it struck a chord that hummed the same in all who were there — an unspoken recognition, that was the same for all observers, as if we’d all been handed the same letter, and finally decided to read it.
SAME
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reviewed on 11th August 2025 at Olive Studio at Greenside @ George Street
by Louis Kavouras
Photography by Bradey Fallon
