GISELLE: REMIX
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★★
“The choreography is impeccable, the performances magnetic, and the shifts in tone handled with total control”
Jack Sears’ Giselle: Remix takes the bones of the classic ballet and explodes them into something gloriously queer, irreverent, and intoxicating. Part ballet, part lip-sync cabaret, part queer coming-of-age story, this is an ode to love, lust, sex, joy, and the mess of queer intimacy.
On the day I attended, guest artist Johnny Woo opened the show in a shimmering gown, delivering a lip-sync that was stylish and glamourous. Sears and the company then appear in flowing gauzy dresses, pastel-toned and almost translucent, dancing to Carpenters’ “Crystal Lullaby”. The movement is technically exquisite, ballet-trained bodies gliding across a pale lino floor, but threaded with flashes of humour and character.
The narrative, though abstract, traces a queer coming-of-age: from childhood games of kiss chase (without ever being kissed) to sexual awakening, romantic ideals shaped by 90s rom-coms, and the jolting realities of intimacy. Sears’ love for Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, and the cinematic happily-ever-after surfaces in playful fragments, often subverted by sharp comedic beats. A brilliantly silly sequence involving overheard sex, chopped up with snippets of rom-com dialogue in the sound design, is very funny.
As the show progresses, light and costume shift the tone from airy romance to something darker and kinkier. Black and midnight-blue outfits, harsh alarm sounds, and sudden slices of light turn the dancers into something monstrous. A red velvet cape swirls like a villain’s entrance; later, Sears appears in black latex with glossy red lips, the choreography channelling erotic menace. It’s as much about the joy of sex as it is about the neuroses, fears, and regrets that can accompany it.
Throughout, the work nods to queer ancestry and community, in one section folding in the voices of Judy Garland, Julian Clary, Paul O’Grady, Miriam Margolyes, and James Baldwin. There’s a richness to these choices, a layering of history and cultural reference that adds depth without ever slowing the show’s momentum.
One of the most affecting moments comes late on, when Sears recalls being a closeted schoolboy, quietly looking up to older queer kids – whether or not they were out themselves – and recognising the unspoken passing of a baton between generations. It’s tender, relatable, and beautifully encapsulates the show’s celebration of resilience, inheritance, and connection.
The evening ends with a duet of “Get Happy” between Sears and Johnny Woo, the two beaming at each other, radiating the joy and defiance that have been running through the show all along.
Giselle: Remix is thrilling in its confidence. It knows exactly what it is, balancing the ethereal beauty of classical ballet with finely-tuned storytelling. The choreography is impeccable, the performances magnetic, and the shifts in tone handled with total control. This is a show about queer love in all its contradictions: the innocence and the filth, the fantasy and the fallout. It’s celebratory, sexy, and absolutely worth seeing.
GISELLE: REMIX
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Reviewed on 10th August 2025 at Forth at Pleasance Courtyard
by Joseph Dunitz
Photography by Ali Wright
