★★½

“it could become a sharp, funny and moving piece of political drag theatre”

Ryan Stewart’s KINDER arrives at the Edinburgh Fringe with a concept that is both timely and important. The censorship of LGBTQ+ issues from young people is a growing concern, and placing that conversation inside the heightened, unpredictable world of drag is a brilliant starting point. The idea of a drag-clown accidentally booked for a children’s story hour is ripe for chaos, comedy and political bite. At times, the show offers glimpses of this potential, but this does unfortunately feel like it’s still in work-in-progress stage, rather than having completed its final draft.

Goody Prostate is a fun creation, and when Stewart lands on a line like “being someone’s disappointment hurts”, the show finds genuine poignancy. A tighter structure could allow moments like this to shine more brightly. At present, the piece moves between themes of memory, family, queerness and censorship without always making the connections between them clear. Establishing early on exactly who Goody is speaking to, and by extension who the audience is meant to be within the world of the show, could give the performance a much stronger sense of direction.

The historical material, including the section on Nazi book burnings, is powerful in intention but currently feels more like a statement of facts than genuine emotional exploration from the character. There is an opportunity here to explore these ideas through character, humour, or imagery so that they live and breathe on stage rather than simply being told to us. Similarly, the lip-sync sequences are enjoyable but feel disconnected from the narrative. If they were more clearly motivated by the story, they could become real highlights rather than pleasant diversions.

Stewart brings energy to the performance, but in a one-person drag show consistent stage presence and audience command are essential. I think finding more moments to get the audience on side, and to establish that crucial rapport, would really help the rest of the show. A stronger commitment to the framing device could also help the show build towards a more satisfying conclusion, rather than drifting away from its opening premise in favour of tangential thoughts.

KINDER has an important voice and an urgent message. With a clearer structure, more focused storytelling and a stronger connection between performer and audience, it could become a sharp, funny and moving piece of political drag theatre. The building blocks are already there; they just need to be shaped into something that gives this story the impact it deserves.

PIGS FLY EASY RYAN

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★½

“you can’t deny having an absolutely wild time watching the chaos unfold”

A technical hiccup with a set malfunction early on had me genuinely wondering whether it was part of the show… that is very much the territory we’re in here! NONSTOP’s Pigs Fly Easy Ryan, one of the three winners of this year’s prestigious Untapped Award, is messy, chaotic, and unashamedly absurd. Two plane crash fetishists pose as flight attendants to sneak aboard a flight, in a show that’s part physical clowning, part stream-of-consciousness monologue, part performance art fever dream.

There are moments where the chaos really works. As we enter the space, we’re greeted by two very overly-enthusiastic flight attendants, with sunburnt-red faces. What happens next is hard to describe. The two performers (Lou Doyle and Trevor White) crawl around on the floor or at other times leap on each other like overgrown kids in the playground. There are references in the dialogue to consumerism, capitalism and the climate crisis, with specific mentions of Jeff Bezos and Amazon. I can imagine it being a really compelling pitch as part of the Untapped process, if nothing else for its downright absurdity.

But the anarchy isn’t always consistent. Some moments feel undercooked, with one particularly important speech getting lost under music that is just too loud. The humour, too, can be hit-and-miss. When it works, it’s genuinely very funny; when it doesn’t, it feels like watching a work in progress performance still finding its shape.

As the absurdity continues, the audience are genuinely baffled by what we’re all watching. We all get involved as the performers hand out pieces of cloud-like material and ask us to throw it in the air. A little later in the show, they strip down to their underwear and throw themselves down an inflatable slide on repeat. A video montage of various references to pigs in pop culture appears on the backdrop. It feels like it’s trying to tie a bunch of stuff together, but doesn’t fully manage it.

By the end, a couple of final lines stick: “Should we be flying right now?” and “We’ve been dying for a holiday. A break. A breath.” There’s a sharp idea here: weighing our desperation for escape in a modern world full of burnout and overworking against the urgent need for climate responsibility and a wider urgency to be taking action. But the show never quite commits fully to this idea. It feels like it wants to use the unhinged to explore these important points, but it only ever feels half-realised. Still, you can’t deny having an absolutely wild time watching the chaos unfold.

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KINDER

★★½

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

KINDER

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★½

“it could become a sharp, funny and moving piece of political drag theatre”

KINDER

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviewed on 9th August 2025 at Big Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate

by Joseph Dunitz

Photography by Ejay Freeman

Kinder

Kinder

Kinder

PIGS FLY EASY RYAN

★★★½

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

PIGS FLY EASY RYAN

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★½

“you can’t deny having an absolutely wild time watching the chaos unfold”